OZARK, Mo. – Missouri S&T's first round contest in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament ended in defeat, as Manny Lopez's three-run homer in the eighth inning turned out to be the decisive blow in Southern Indiana's 5-4 victory over the Miners at U.S. Ballpark.

Lopez homered to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the eighth off S&T reliever Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) and that run turned out to be the difference after the Miners (30-16) got a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth by freshman Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North).   The loss sends the Miners to an elimination game Friday at 9 a.m. against Maryville.

The game was indicitive of two teams separated by one spot in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional rankings – S&T came into the game ranked eighth and USI was ranked ninth – as well as two squads that finished one game apart in the GLVC standings.

The Screaming Eagles (30-19) got on the scoreboard in the top half of the first when Bryce Krizan drew a leadoff walk and later scored on Aaron Euler's single, but S&T answered back in the bottom half when Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) reached on a fiedler's choice, stole second and scored on Tim Lira's (Granger, IN/Penn) two-out double into the gap in left center.

USI regained the lead in the third after Krizan singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Manny Lopez, but again, the Miners tied it back up in the bottom of the frame on a double by Lira as he shot a ball past the third base bag to score Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo).

In the fourth, the Screaming Eagles nearly benefitted from a reversal on a video review, but the game remained tied following a second review in the inning.  With one out, Jacob Fleming grounded into what was originally ruled a fielder's choice but the following the replay, the runner, Zach Pate, was ruled safe at second.

The next batter, Kobe Stephens, hit what appeared to be a sacrifice fly to left, but Volkmann threw Fleming out at third as Pate was reaching the plate.  The original ruling had Pate scoring, but the review showed that Pate had not touched home before the out was recorded at third to wipe the run off the scoreboard.

S&T had a threat in the sixth with two on and one out, but USI went to its bullpen and Jacob Bowles got a pair of strikeouts to escape the jam.

However, the Miners were unable to get out of a similar jam in USI's half of the eighth, as Lopez tagged Martin for a three-run homer to put the Screaming Eagles into the lead.

The Miners got back to within a run in the bottom of the eighth when Wood hit his two-run pinch-hit homer, but Bowles fanned three of the next four hitters to close out the contest.  Bowles struck out eight Miner after entering the contest with one out in the sixth.

Missouri S&T outhit the Screaming Eagles 7-6; Lira had two of S&T's seven hits.  Starting pitcher Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) was tagged with the loss, despite allowing just five hits and striking out four in seven-plus innings of work.