KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Missouri S&T used a five-run outburst in the top of the seventh Friday afternoon to complete a sweep of a doubleheader at Truman State – winning both games by identical 10-6 scores – and clinched a berth to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in the process.

S&T trailed 6-5 entering the seventh inning of the nightcap, but got a leadoff single by Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) to open the frame.  Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) followed by drawing a walk and Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) singled down the line in left to load the bases.  With one out, Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) singled to the opposite field to score Branson with the tying run, then Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) was hit by a pitch to force in the go-ahead run.

The Miners weren't finished in the ninth, as Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) greeted reliever Jack Owens with a two-run single to right to make it 9-6, then the Miners tacked on another run on Michael Ward's (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) RBI single.

Dylan Dunbar (West Plains, MO/West Plains), who entered the contest in the sixth, retired the Bulldogs in the seventh in order to pick up the win and guarantee the Miners their spot in next week's GLVC Tournament in St. Charles, Mo.

S&T had raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first, scoring twice on a double by Baxmeyer and two more in the inning on Branson's two-run homer.  However, the Bulldogs scored twice in the bottom of the first on Will Fromm's two-run homer off S&T starter Rian Markes (Columbia, MO/Father Tolton) – who was facing the team he spent the last four seasons pitching for – and tied the contest when Steven Bradbury connected on a two-run shot.

The Miners regained the lead in the fourth when Hayes singled and later scored when he and Ward executed a successful double steal, but Truman knotted the game in the bottom half of the inning and took the lead in the fifth on Holden Missey's RBI single.

Missouri S&T had a 10-8 advantage in hits in the second game, with Hayes, Ward and Baxmeyer all collecting two hits each. 

Game one saw the Miners jump on the Bulldogs for four runs in the first inning, as Wood and Ward drew one-out walks and Baxmeyer singled to load the bases ahead of Branson, who delivered a two-run single to get S&T on the board.  Voss followed with a single to drive in Baxmeyer, then Branson scored on a double steal attempt before Voss was tagged out to end the inning.

Truman scored a run in the second on Jake Schneider's RBI single, but the Miners got that run back in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Hayes.  The Bulldogs scored again in the fourth when Dakota Spicer drew a walk with the bases loaded to force home a run, but S&T starter Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) was able to induce a double play to get the Miners out of that inning without any further damage.

Following the double play to end the fourth, Ward hit his record-tying home run to lead off the fifth to extend the S&T lead, then Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon) drove in Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) later in the frame to make it 7-2.  S&T tacked on three more in the sixth when Weiner belted a two-run homer and Branson knocked in his third run of the afternoon with a two-out single.

The Bulldogs pulled to within four at 10-6 with four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Will Fromm's three-run homer.  David Kephart (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) took over on the mound for the Miners following the Fromm homer and got the Miners out of that inning and then set Truman down in order in the seventh to preserve the win.

The Miners outhit the Bulldogs 11-8 in the contest with four players – Wood, Branson and Mahurin – all had two hits each.  Meier allowed five hits and struck out four in his five innings of work to improve to 5-2 on the season.

Missouri S&T will face Truman in a single game Saturday starting at noon and will wrap up the series with another single contest at noon Sunday.