ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Lindenwood hit Missouri S&T with a five-run outburst in the fourth inning Thursday afternoon as it went on to defeat the Miners 8-4 in an opening round contest at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Baseball Championships.

Trailing 3-2 entering the fourth inning, the Lions tied the score in the fourth on a ground rule double by Will Lanxon; S&T caught a break on the play when the ball went between the banner in front of fence and fence itself, forcing the trail runner, Jack Lochner to stop at third.

The next hitter, Beau Collier, hit a ball that S&T third baseman Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) made a diving stop on, but could only go to first with the play as Lochner came home with the go-ahead run.  That was followed by back-to-back singles by Kolby Schulte and Bryce Beckmann, the latter of which brought in another run and a two-run double to the fence by Alex Canty that knocked Miner starter Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) out of the game.

Lockner drove in a run in the fifth on a high chopper that glanced off the glove of Miner shortstop Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) to extend the Lion lead.

The Miners jumped on top in the game right out of the gate, as Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) opened the game with a double into the corner in left and scored on Doug Wood's (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) hit that bounced through the middle of the infield.   Wood was forced out at second on a fielder's choice off the bat of Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West), who would score later in the inning on a two-out single by Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James).

Lindenwood cut the lead in half in the bottom of the first on back-to-back triples by Collier and Schulte, but the Miners took advantage of a couple of Lion mistakes to regain their two-run lead in the third.

Ward singled to open the inning, then went to second on a balk by Lion starter Blake Beckmann and to third on a wild pitch.  After Landon Bell (Seymour, MO/Seymour) reached base on an error following a strikeout, Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Ward.

The Miners cut down a runner at the plate in the bottom of the inning as Hayes' relay throw to the plate retired Schulte, but Lindenwood did score in the inning when Alex Canty reached on an infield single that allowed Bryce Beckmann to score.

After the Lions had taken the lead, the Miners got one run in the seventh as Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) doubled to open the inning and crossed the plate later in the frame on a double play ball.

Lindenwood outhit the Miners 16-11 in the game, as Hayes had three hits for S&T while Ward and Sill had two apiece.

S&T will face Quincy in an elimination game Friday at 9 a.m.