ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team could not overcome a slow start Friday afternoon and dropped the opening game of its four-game weekend series to Southwest Baptist 12-2 at the S&T Ballpark.

The Bearcats (15-18, 11-17 Great Lakes Valley Conference) jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the time they finished batting in the second inning and went on to drop the Miners to 16-17 on the season and 12-13 in the GLVC.

SBU scored twice in the first and added three in the second, two scoring on a single by Zack Ehlen and another on a single by Colby Sneed before the Miners got on the scoreboard in the second.  Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) singled to open the inning and Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) was hit by a pitch preceding Tate Morrell's (Lloydminster, AB) one-out single that brought home Baxmeyer.

Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon) followed with a groundout that scored Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James), but after the Miners got their two runs in that inning, they were shut down for the rest of the day by SBU pitchers Kyle Smith and Dalton Morrow as the duo held the Miners to just four hits over the final six innings.

The Bearcats extended their lead with a run in the third and tacked on two in the fifth before the Miners had a threat in the seventh.  With one out, Morrow walked Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) and Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing), but got S&T's top two hitters -- Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) and Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) – on fly balls to get out of the inning.  SBU scored four more times in the eighth inning to wrap up the victory.

Southwest Baptist outhit the Miners 13-6 in the game; Baxmeyer, Wood and Morrell had two hits apiece to account for S&T's six hits.  Elijah Gross (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West), the first of six pitchers used by the Miners Friday, took the loss on the mound.

The Miners and Bearcats will face off in a doubleheader Saturday at the S&T Ballpark that will begin at noon.