ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T made up a four-run deficit to take an eighth inning lead Sunday afternoon against Bellarmine at the S&T Ballpark, but the Knights tied the game in the ninth and scored a run in the 12^th inning to come away with a 6-5 win in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

The Miners trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, but scored twice in that inning and two more in the eighth to take the lead on a two-out, two-run single by Zach Bracken (Berthoud, CO/Berthoud).  However, Bellarmine tied the game in the ninth on a successful squeeze bunt and got the go-ahead run on Clayton Mehlbauer's RBI single in the 12^th.

Bellarmine (26-19, 17-13 GLVC) grabbed a 4-0 in the first two innings, rattling off four straight off S&T starter Brenden Garza (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) to begin the game and score the first two runs, then got a sacrifice fly from Deylen Miley for its third run in the opening frame.  In the second, the Knights scored when Miley drew a walk from reliever Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) with the bases loaded.

Martin did keep the Miners (27-15, 19-11 GLVC) in the contest as he kept the Knights off the scoreboard through the next five frames, retiring nine straight hitters in one stretch before turning the ball over to Joe Wolf (Freeburg, IL/Freeburg) in the eighth.

Wolf took over on the mound after the Miners had cut the Knight lead to one, as S&T got a run in the second when Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) doubled home Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) and two more in the seventh, which began when Reid was hit by a pitch to open the inning.

After stealing second, Reid came in to score on a double by Bracken, who would then take third on a fly ball and scored on a ground out by Wood to cut the lead to 4-3.

Wolf got out of a two-on, two-out situation in the eighth, then the Miners took advantage of some early wildness by Bellarmine reliever Brandon Pfaadt, who took over for starter Alex Phillips after the seventh.  Pfaadt got behind Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) and then gave up a single to him, before making a wild pickoff throw to move Hayes to second and then hit Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) with a pitch.

Following a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk that loaded the bases, new reliever Zac Wiley got Reid on a pop-up, but Bracken fisted a ball out of the reach of a diving Mehlbauer in left field to score Hayes and Volkmann to give the Miners their first lead of the afternoon.

But in the ninth, Wiley doubled off Conner Forsythe (Farmington, MO/Farmington) to start the inning, then following a hit by Chris Gambert, Jack Ockerman laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Wiley to tie the game.  The Knights would get runners to second and third before the inning ended, but Forsythe got a strikeout and a line out to end that threat.

The Miners had runners on base in the ninth, 10^th and 11^th innings but couldn't convert those chances, missing a good chance in the 11^th when Wood appeared to have stolen second but getting it wiped out due to a batter interference call.  Bellarmine proceeded to get the winning run across in the 12^th, when Tyler Neeley singled and an error allowed pinch-runner Justin Rouse to get into scoring position, where he scored moments later on Mehlbauer's RBI single.

Bellarmine outhit the Miners 11-7 in the contest; Bracken and Wood had two hits apiece for S&T.  Will Boettcher (Metamora, IL/Metamora), who threw the final three innings for the Miners, took the loss.

The Miners finished the weekend alone in fourth place in the GLVC standings and will look to lock up a spot in the GLVC Tournament next weekend in a three-game series against Rockhurst beginning Friday at the S&T Ballpark.  Before that, S&T has a non-conference game scheduled for Wednesday against Fontbonne in St. Louis starting at 2 p.m.