ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T was in control of Friday's Great Lakes Valley Conference series opener against Lewis at the S&T Ballpark through the first six innings, before the Flyers rattled off six unanswered runs to take the lead in the contest.
However, the Miners staged a rally of their in the bottom of the eighth, getting a two-out, two-run single from
Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) to pull out an 8-7 win.
The Miners (14-6, 7-2 GLVC) led 6-1 heading into the seventh inning with five-game winner
Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) on the mound, but the Flyers (8-11, 3-6 GLVC) drew even with a five-run outburst in the inning. Lewis had already plated one run in the inning and with two outs, Michael O'Brien – who had already homered in the game – stayed alive at the plate on a borderline pitch.
O'Brien hit the next pitch over the fence in center to cut the Miner lead to one, then following a pitching change, Brandon Post hit
Will Boettcher's (Metamora, IL/Metamora) first pitch for a game-tying home run.
The Flyers took the lead in the eighth on an Anthony Rios RBI single, but the Miners loaded the bases to begin the eighth on a single by
Drew Aldana (El Paso, TX/JM Hanks),
Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) being hit by a pitch and
Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) reaching on a bunt single off reliever Robert Talarico.
Talarico nearly worked out of the jam as he struck out the next two hitters, but Lira laced a 1-2 pitch into left center to score Aldana and Hayes to put the Miners into the lead. Connor Forsythe entered the game on the mound for S&T in the ninth and after allowing a leadoff single, fanned the next three hitters to pick up the save for winning pitcher
Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax).
Missouri S&T grabbed the initial lead in the game in the first when Burk – who had four hits in the contest – led off with an infield single and later scored on a hit by Lira. It added three more runs in the second, the first scoring when
Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) tripled with one out and came home on an Aldana ground out.
An error on a ball hit by Hayes kept the inning alive and the Miners tacked on two more runs as a result, with
Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) bringing home Hayes on an infield hit and then as he broke for second, Burk came home to give S&T a 4-0 lead.
O'Brien hit the first of his two homers to lead off the third, but the Miners put two more on the board in the fourth, as Aldana reached on a throwing error and came around to score on a triple by Hayes, who would score himself moments later on a hit by Burk.
The Miners outhit Lewis 14-12 as they also got three hits from Lira in the contest.
S&T and Lewis will wrap up their weekend series with a noon doubleheader Saturday at the S&T Ballpark which will close out the Miners' nine-game homestand.
