ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team clinched a berth to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Friday afternoon as it ran past Rockhurst in both games of a doubleheader at the S&T Ballpark, winning by scores of 12-4 and 9-0.

The wins assured S&T of making the conference tournament for the fifth straight season and eighth time in nine years.  With a win Saturday in the final game of the series – which begins at noon – the Miners will be guaranteed a top-four seed in the tournament that will begin Thursday in Ozark, Mo.

S&T (29-15, 21-11 GLVC) jumped out to a 5-0 in the first three innings of game one, scoring three in the first and two more in the third.  With one out in the first, Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) was hit by a pitch, which was followed by hits off the bats of Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah) and Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) to bring home the first run.  Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) singled home Gruse to make it 2-0, then Knickerbocker scored on a balk later in the first.

In the third, Knickerbocker led off the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch before scoring on Kaleb Reid's (Smithville, MO/Smithville) double down the left field line.  Moments later, Zach Bracken (Berthoud, CO/Berthoud) singled to the opposite field to allow Reid to score.

Rockhurst (12-36, 6-26 GLVC) cut into the Miner lead over the next three innings, scoring once in the fourth, twice in the fifth and another in the sixth to get the margin down to one.  The Hawks had a chance to tie the contest in the sixth, but S&T starter Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) got Craig Straws on a comebacker to end the inning.

The Miners wasted little time in regaining control of the contest as they scored three times in the sixth.  Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) singled to open the inning and Drew Aldana (El Paso, TX/JM Hanks) was hit by a pitch before Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) reached on an error to allow Burk to cross the plate.  One out later, Gruse delivered an RBI single and Knickerbocker hit a sacrifice fly to close the scoring in the frame.

S&T then busted the game open in the seventh, as Hayes belted a three-run homer and Knickerbocker added another sacrifice fly.

The Miners outhit Rockhurst 13-10 in the opener with four players getting two hits apiece; Hayes and Knickerbocker each drove in three runs.  Marcheschi pitched the first six innings to pick up his eighth win of the year, becoming the fifth pitcher in Miner history to win at least eight games on the mound in a season.

S&T's game two starter, Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) controlled matters in game two to pick up his seventh win, as he blanked the Hawks on three hits over the first seven innings and struck out five along the way.  He got the only run he would need in the second, as Hayes reached on an error, stole second and third and scored when Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) also reached base on an error.

The Miners added a run in the fourth when Bracken reached on an error with one out and came in the score on Wood's two-out double, then tacked on two more in the fifth on an RBI single by Volkmann and a run-scoring double by Hayes. S&T put five more on the scoreboard in the eighth, highlighted by a two-run single by Knickerbocker.

Missouri S&T, who outhit the Hawks 7-4 in the second game, stole a single-game record nine bases in the contest and had 13 steals in the twinbill.   Hayes had four swipes in the nightcap and five of S&T's 13 on the afternoon.

Saturday's game will also be Senior Day, as the Miner seniors will be honored in a pre-game ceremony set to begin at 11:45 a.m.