ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team dropped its season opener Saturday at the S&T Ballpark to Minot State, but a seventh-inning uprising in the opener carried over into the nightcap as the Miners built a lead that it will look to turn into a victory when the contest is concluded on Sunday.

Minot State won the opener over S&T 9-6, but the Miners hold an 8-2 lead through eight innings in the second game that was suspended due to darkness.  The game will be completed Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. prior to the scheduled doubleheader between the teams.

After being held in check for six innings by R.J. Martinez – the only run the Miners scored in that span came on a first inning solo homer by Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) -- S&T broke out with a five-run seventh and had the tying run on base when the game ended.  The inning started with consecutive hits by Matt Miller (St. Louis, MO/Oakville), Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) and Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) to load the bases before a sacrifice fly by Noah Wooldridge (Willard, MO/Willard) scored Miller.

AJ Marsh (High Ridge, MO/Seckman) followed with a triple to score the other two runners and knock Martinez out of the game, then the Miners loaded the bases again when Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) was hit by a pitch and Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) drew a walk.  A sacrifice fly by Ward cut the lead to 8-5, then Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) and Miller were hit by pitches to force in another run before Aaron Kern – the fourth pitcher used by the Beavers in the seventh – entered the game and struck out Voss to end it.

Minot State scored in five of the seven innings in game one, including a four-run third that broke the game open.  The Beavers outhit S&T 9-6 in the first game.

The Miners got on the scoreboard first in the second inning of the nightcap, as Hampton's infield out scored Baxmeyer with the first run and Miller scored later in the inning on a wild pitch.  S&T then added two more in the fourth on an RBI single by Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon) and a ground out by Hayes that plated Voss.

S&T lefthander Brenden Garza (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) opened the second game by retiring 14 of the first 15 hitters he faced, but the first hit he allowed was a two-out home run in the fifth to Nolan Monthei that got the Beavers on the board.  Minot got two more runners on base after the homer, but Garza got Trevaun Smith on a fly ball to escape any additional damage.

The Miners got that run back in the bottom half of the inning when Miller singled home Ward, then S&T padded its lead an inning later when Baxmeyer belted a three-run homer.