LEBANON, Ill. -- Strong performances at the plate and on the mound helped propel the Missouri S&T baseball team to a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader sweep of McKendree Saturday afternoon by scores of 6-3 and 7-1 at Hypes Field.
 
In game one, the Miners (24-13, 17-9 GLVC) grabbed a 3-0 lead after Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah) went deep to right center in the first inning after Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) doubled down the line in left to kick things off and Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) drew a walk.  McKendree (9-30, 6-20 GLVC) responded with a home run of its own in the second inning, a two-run shot to left field by Connor McCormick. 

Things stayed in favor of S&T until the sixth inning, when Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) went yard over the scoreboard for a pair to make it a 5-2 game and an eighth inning double off the bat of Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) scored Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) to make it 6-2.  McKendree tried to rally in the 9^th against Conner Forsythe (Farmington, MO/Farmington), but managed to score only one after getting several baserunners in the inning, as Volkmann wrapped things up by making a sliding catch to his left to snag a sinking line drive. 
 
Brenden Garza (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) worked 5 2/3 innings, scattering five hits and picking up four strikeouts as he moved to 4-0 on the year, while Blaine Dunbar (West Plains, MO/West Plains) and Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) both posted zeroes on the board out of the bullpen.  Jared Timmermann took the loss for the Bearcats, as he worked seven innings, allowing five earned runs and striking out six. 

Lira and Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) had two hits each for S&T in addition to the home runs by Gruse and Knickerbocker.
 
In game two, Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) and Ryan Vogt traded zeroes until the third inning when S&T exploded for six runs.  The scoring started when Drew Aldana (El Paso, TX/JM Hanks) reached on a bunt single to the pitcher Vogt, who made a throwing error on the play to allow Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) to score from second; Reid led off the inning with a single and stole second.

After a sacrifice bunt and a fielder's choice posted two outs on the board, Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) singled through the left side to score Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo).  Then following a Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) single, Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) drew a bases loaded walk to force home Gruse.

With the score at 3-0, Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) hit a one hopper to third baseman Adam Cox, whose errant throw pulled Andrew Aydt off the bag at first, allowing Knickerbocker and Lira to score and extend the lead to 5-0.  Reid then singled through the right side to score Volkmann to conclude the scoring matters in the inning.
 
In the sixth, S&T added a seventh run as Reid left the ballpark on a solo homerun to leftfield, his first of the season.  McKendree's lone run came in the eighth on a sacrifice fly to left field by Joe Costanzo. 

Erger went seven strong innings as he improved to 5-4, scattering seven hits and striking out three.  Joe Wolf (Freeburg, IL/Freeburg) ended a McKendree threat in the eighth after the run scored was charged to Dylan Dunbar (West Plains, MO/West Plains).  Bryan Nolan (Ballwin, MO/St. Louis University HS) closed things out in the ninth, as he worked around a walk to get a double play ball to wrap the afternoon. 

Reid went four-of-four at the plate, scoring twice and driving in a pair.
 
The two teams will wrap up the series and this weekend's slate of GLVC games with a single contest set for noon Sunday.