ROLLA, Mo. – After having swept the first doubleheader of the weekend on Saturday, the Missouri S&T baseball team was back in action Sunday at the Ballpark at S&T looking to finish the job opposite Missouri-St. Louis. The Miners (11-6) scored in five of six innings at the plate in game one to win 14-8, before needing some late heroics in the nightcap to secure the four-game sweep of the Tritons (1-11) by a score of 8-7.
The action started right away in game one when with runners at second and third with one out,
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) plated the first run of the afternoon an RIB groundout moments before
Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) plated the second run of the day on a double into the left field corner.
UMSL responded with two runs of their own in the top of the second, cashing in a two-run single with two outs to even things back up. A leadoff
Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) double came across to score two batters later when
Christian Montes de Oca (El Paso, TX/Franklin) singled to right to put S&T back on top 3-2.
A scoreless third inning saw the teams combine for six runs in the fourth. The Tritons tied things up on a one-out single to center before taking a two-run lead with a sac fly and a two-run double to make it 5-3. Again, the Miners wasted little time answering, as after Hampton led off with an infield single,
Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) unloaded on one to left field to tie things back up at 5-5. The go-ahead run scored later in the inning when a throwing error by the catcher on a double steal by
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) and
Tommy Ruether (Washington, MO/Washington) saw the former cross home to put S&T back ahead 6-5.
Missouri-St. Louis again tied things in the top of the fifth with a one-out RBI single but four more runs crossed in the next half inning for the Green & Gold. A Voss sacrifice fly plated Weiner to go back ahead before Branson scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Montes de Oca. Pinch hitter
Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon) delivered an RBI single off the bench before Sill laid down a safety squeeze to plate the inning's fourth run and make it a 10-6 game.
Again UMSL scored a lone run in the sixth, and again Missouri S&T scored four in the bottom of the inning.
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) crossed home on a wild pitch before Voss singled to left to drive in a run and make it 12-7. Montes de Oca delivered a sac fly for his third RBI of the game before Voss scored on another throwing miscue of the catcher to double up the Tritons at 14-7.
The seventh inning saw an RBI groundout from the visitors that made it 14-8, but
Dylan Dunbar (West Plains, MO/West Plains) recorded the final out on the next batter to clinch the series win for S&T, working the final two innings of the game.
Jacob Cook (Chicago, IL/Minooka Community) (1-0) earned the win in relief, the first of his career, as he went an inning and a third and allowed one unearned run, one hit and struck out two. Starter
Nate Wodka (Allen, TX/Allen) went 3 2/3 innings in his first start of the season and allowed three earned runs on six hits and struck out four.
At the plate, Weiner, Hampton and Voss all turned in two-hit games with the third member of the group driving in four runs, while Montes de Oca finished with a career-high three RBI. Seven different players found their way into the hit column in the first game of the day.
Game two did not start as promising as the first three games of the series had for S&T. UMSL quickly raced out to a 5-0 lead after an inning and a half, scoring three in the first and two in the second on four hits and taking advantage of several wild pitches in the early going.
S&T plated a run on a bases loaded walk by Sill with one out in the bottom of the second and looked poised for another big inning, but a lineout double play allowed UMSL to escape with a four-run lead at 5-1.
After a scoreless third, the Miners inched a bit closer in the fourth, as
Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) scored on an E4 off the bat of Sill for the second S&T run of the game.
UMSL pushed their lead back to five in the fifth with an RBI triple and another wild pitch to make it 7-2 halfway through the action.
Looking for something to swing momentum in their favor, S&T went to the bullpen again to begin the sixth and got a scoreless inning from
Elijah Gross (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West) that preceded a four-run outburst in the bottom of the inning to make it a one-run game. A promising start to the inning was erased in a double play nit a walk by Ruther breathed life back into the inning, as he was joined on base in short order by Wood and Weiner before Branson stepped in and delivered a two-run single to make it 7-4. A wild pitch allowed another run to score and another sac fly from Voss plated a run to make it 7-6 heading to the seventh.
Both bullpens worked a clean inning in the seventh before S&T completed their rally in the bottom of the eighth. Wood led things off with a single and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Weiner and advanced to third on a Branson groundout to put the tying run just 90 feet away. Mahurin reached base via hit by pitch and was lifted for pinch runner
Kyle Fowler (Foristell, MO/St. Dominic) as Voss stepped into the box once more, delivering a two-run double down the line in left to score the go-ahead run and make it an 8-7 game.
Gross (2-1) worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the contest and clinch S&T's second-straight four-game sweep. His four scoreless innings of one-hit relief featured four strikeouts and allowed the offense to rally for the win.
Ben Belgrave (Cary, IL/Cary-Grove) turned in his best performance of the season ahead of Gross as first man out of the bullpen, working 3 1/3 innings and striking out six against one walk while allowing two runs on three hits.
Voss led the way with a 3-5 game with three RBI while Wood, Hughes and
Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) all recorded two hit games and Branson finished 1-4 with two RBI.
S&T's eight-game winning streak is the longest since a seven-game stretch in 2019 from April 12-24 and is the first eight-game winning streak since 2017, which started lasted from April 24-May 5.
Up next, S&T heads to Pittsburg State Wednesday for a non-conference matchup scheduled for 2 P.M. at Al Ortolani Field.
