ROLLA, Mo. – For the second straight day, Missouri S&T's baseball team struggled to slow down Davenport's offensive attack, as the Panthers swept a doubleheader from the Miners at the S&T Ballpark by scores of 12-7 and 12-2 Sunday afternoon.
Davenport (6-1), who swept the four-game series with Sunday's sweep, banged out 29 hits on the afternoon that included four home runs and had a big inning in each game to break free from the Miners.
In the opener, the Panthers scored single runs in the first and third innings before S&T cut the lead in half in the third on a two-out RBI double by
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) that scored
Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon). However, the Panthers broke the contest open with a seven-run fifth inning, which started with a home run by Carson Eby and later saw Jacob Buchberger belt a grand slam.
The Miners (1-7) batted around and scored three times in the sixth to cut into the margin, which started with back-to-back singles by
Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) and
Matt Miller (St. Louis, MO/Oakville). With one out,
Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) singled in Baxmeyer before the Miners loaded the bases with one out. The second run of the inning scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of
Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) and the third run crossed the plate when Wood reached on an infield single that allowed Berkhoff to score.
S&T got three more runs in the seventh, one scoring on a bases loaded walk to
Landon Bell (Seymour, MO/Seymour) and the other two on a double by
Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo). The Miners were outhit 12-7 in the opener with Wood getting two of S&T's seven hits.
The Miners fell behind out of the gate in game two when Buchberger – who drove in eight runs in the doubleheader and 12 in the series – belted a two-run homer in the first inning. Davenport added a run in the second before S&T got on the board in the third when a Wood groundout scored
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing).
However, the Panthers rattled off seven straight hits in the fourth and scored five runs in the process, then added single runs in the fifth and sixth and two more in the seventh before the Miners got their final run on a Hayes sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.
Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) had two of the Miners' seven hits in the nightcap as S&T was outhit 17-7.
The Miners return to action Saturday when they open a four-game series against Upper Iowa at the S&T Ballpark.
