LIBERTY, Mo. – Missouri S&T was three outs away from completing a doubleheader sweep Sunday afternoon, but William Jewell scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to overtake the Miners 6-5 after S&T had taken game one by a count of 10-4.
Jade Smoot singled with the bases loaded to complete the seventh inning comeback for the Cardinals (11-20, 9-18 Great Lakes Valley Conference) and prevent the Miners (15-16, 11-12 GLVC) from moving over the .500 mark for the first time since late March.
The Miners used big innings for most of their scoring on Sunday, posting two five-run innings and a four-run frame to account for 14 of their 15 runs during the twinbill.
After two scoreless innings in game one, the Miners broke on top in the third when
Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) doubled in
Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon). S&T added four more runs in the inning, as Berkhoff would later score on a passed ball,
Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) drove in
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) with a double and
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) greeted reliever Will Bailey with a two-run homer.
Weiner also drove in the Miners' sixth run when he drew a bases loaded walk in the fourth.
The Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the fourth, then scored twice in the fifth to cut the lead to 6-3 before
Dylan Dunbar (West Plains, MO/West Plains) took over for S&T starter
Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) and got the Miners out of that inning.
S&T added to its lead in the seventh when
Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) led off the inning with a hit and later scored on a one-out single by Sill, then Berkhoff scored moments later on a throwing error and Sill came across on
Doug Wood's (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) sacrifice fly. The Miners also got a fourth run in the seventh when Weiner drove in his fourth run of the contest as he singled home
Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West).
S&T outhit Jewell 11-9 in the opener with four Miners getting two hits apiece. Meier was credited with the win and Dunbar, who threw the final 2 2/3 innings, got the save.
Game two saw William Jewell take the lead in the third on Anthony Hansen's sacrifice fly, but the Miners responded with their third multiple-run inning of the afternoon by scoring five times in the fourth.
The inning began with a double by Ward, who moved on to third following a hit by
Landon Bell (Seymour, MO/Seymour). Berkhoff reached on an error as Ward scoring the tying run, then Voss followed with a hit to drive in Bell to put S&T in front. That hit was followed by an RBI single off the bat of
Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West), then a balk moved him and Voss up on the bases and both runners scored on
Brady Wildschuetz's (Foristell, MO/Francis Howell) single.
Alex Epp homered for Jewell in the bottom of the fifth to cut the S&T advantage to 5-2 and a Cole Conner RBI single in the sixth made it a two-run game, but
Mick Von Feldt (St. Charles, IA/Interstate 35) came in to pitch after the Conner hit and got a double play ball to help the Miners get out of the sixth without any additional damage.
However, the Cardinals got a hit, a walk and a bunt single that went past reliever Matt Kaiser to load the bases to start the bottom of the seventh, then Jake Wilcox singled to drive in two to tie the contest.
Nate Wodka (Allen, TX/Allen) took over on the mound and retired the first hitter he faced, then after an intentional walk to Conner, Smoot laced a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right center to end the game.
Sill, Voss, Burgess and Wildschuetz all had two hits apiece for the Miners, who had 11 hits in the game as did the Cardinals. Kaiser took the loss in relief for S&T.
The Miners and Cardinals will wrap up their series with a single game Monday starting at noon.
