JOPLIN, Mo. -- After leading for much of the contest Sunday evening, Missouri S&T's baseball team was unable to hang onto that lead and then had a ninth inning rally come up just short as it fell 7-6 to 19^th-ranked Missouri Southern.

The Lions overcame a three-run deficit in the seventh to tie the game, then took the lead on Joe Kinder's second home run of the game with two outs in the eighth as part of a three-run eighth inning.  S&T got two of those runs back in the ninth, but had the tying run thrown out at the plate to end the game as it suffered its second loss of the opening day of the 2021 season.  Earlier in the day, Missouri Western handed the Miners a 14-3 loss.

In Sunday's second contest, the Miners missed a good scoring opportunity in the first after Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) was stranded after a one-out triple, but broke on top in the second when Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) doubled home Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) and Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James).  Later in the inning, Voss scored as the result of a throwing error to give S&T a 3-0 advantage.

Missouri Southern (5-0) got on the scoreboard on Kinder's leadoff homer in the fifth, only to see the Miners get that run back in the sixth as they loaded the bases with two outs on a double, walk and hit by pitch and got the run home when Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) reached on an infield single.

S&T starter Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) held Southern in check over the first six innings, scattering five hits and striking out seven that included fanning the side in order to close out his outing in the sixth.  However, the Lions tied the contest with a three-run outburst off a pair of Miner relievers, knotting the score at four following a two-run double by Troy Gagan.

After the Miners were retired in order in the eighth, Matt Kaiser got the first two Lions out in the eighth before Kinder hit a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left to give Southern its first lead of the contest.  The Lions would add two insurance runs before the frame ended, but S&T would not go quietly.

With one out, the Miners got consecutive singles from Hayes, Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) and Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) to plate a run, then Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) delivered a pinch-hit single with two outs to bring home Baxmeyer.  Branson followed that with a hit that dropped in front of left fielder Jordan Fitzpatrick, but the relay to the plate was just in time to retire Wood to end the game.

Berkhoff and Branson had three hits apiece for the Miners, who outhit the Lions 14-12 in the game.  Hayes and Brady Wildschuetz (Foristell, MO/Francis Howell) also had two hits each for S&T.

In the first game of the day, Missouri Western jumped on the Miners with a six-run first inning that started with back-to-back doubles by Gustavo Gonzalez and Ben Tsui, two of the four doubles the Griffons had in the inning.  The Miners got one run back in the bottom half of the frame on a solo home run by Ward, but Western added to its lead over the next three innings as Bailey Crump belted a pair of home runs sandwiched around a two-run third.

The Miners scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, as after Wildschuetz singled with one out and Hayes drew a walk, Ward delivered a run-scoring single and Wood followed with an RBI single of his own to plate the second run of the frame.

Western scored three more in the seventh to wrap up the victory.

The Griffons, who were also playing their season opener, outhit the Miners 16-10.  Wood, Wildschuetz and Ward all had two hits apiece for S&T; Ward, with his first inning homer, hit a home run in his first at-bat of the season for the second year in a row and drove in two of the Miners' three runs.

S&T starter Rian Markes (Columbia, MO/Father Tolton), who threw the first three innings, was charged with the loss on the hill.

The Miners will play these teams again Monday, taking on Missouri Western at 11 a.m. and closing their trip to Joplin with a 2 p.m. game against Missouri Southern.