ROLLA, Mo. – The sun was shining, and the wind was howling at the Ballpark at S&T Saturday as the Missouri S&T baseball team and #13/19 Illinois Springfield were back in action for games two and three of their four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series. Game one of the day saw the Miners (17-18, 5-10) lead early but couldn't quite hold off the Prairie Stars (32-6, 12-3) in the late going, falling 8-3 while in game two the opposition scored in six of seven innings of play to take the second game of the doubleheader 12-3.
Game one opened with a scoreless first inning before the Miners struck first Saturday afternoon in the bottom of the second.
Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) scored the opening run of the day when UIS committed a throwing error following an infield single off the bat of
Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James), who scored moments later on a single just inside the left field line by
Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) to make it a 2-0 game.
S&T added another run in the bottom of the third when
Tommy Ruether (Washington, MO/Washington) scored on a passed ball after he led off the inning by reaching base on another throwing error by the Prairie Stars that made it a 3-0 game.
Illinois Springfield got on the board with a two out RBI single in the fourth inning and took the lead behind three runs in the fifth inning by way of an RBI double, RBI single and a throwing error that made it 4-3. UIS then added four more runs over the course of the sixth and seventh before closing things out for the 8-3 win.
Voss led S&T with a 2-3 game at the plate while
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette), Branson, Hughes and
Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) comprised the remainder of the Miners' hits in the game.
Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) (3-2) was tagged with the loss despite starting his day with three straight scoreless innings. In his final start at home, he logged 5 2/3 innings and allowed five runs, four earned and struck out four against one walk.
Chasen Anderson (Moscow Mills, MO/Troy Buchanan) and
Dylan Dunbar (West Plains, MO/West Plains) each worked two-thirds of an inning in relief.
The Prairie Stars struck first in game two, scoring twice in each of the first two innings to take the early 4-0 lead.
S&T answered with a run in the bottom of the second when
Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) scored on a wind-aided single to left field off the bat of
Tate Morrell (Lloydminster, AB/).
After a scoreless fourth inning, UIS added two more in the fifth followed by another from the Green & Gold, as Morrell drove in another run, this time the hard way as he was plunked with bases loaded to force home Ruther.
Two more two-out runs came in the sixth for the visitors followed by another run in the home half, this time seeing
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) score on a fielder's choice off the bat of
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) that made it a 9-3 game. The Prairie Stars tacked on three more runs in the seventh before closing out the game to take the day's second game 12-3.
Hayes, Voss, Morrell and
Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) logged the Miners' four hits in the game with Morrell driving in two and reaching base three times in the game.
Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) (1-2) was charged with the loss in the game, working into the third inning and allowing five runs, four earned, in two full innings.
Treyton Ruth (Rolla, MO/Rolla) worked three innings of relief and allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts while
Jacob Cook (Chicago, IL/Minooka Community) and
Scott Henrich (West Bend, WI/West Bend) worked an inning of relief each.
The two teams are set to wrap up the four-game series Sunday at 1 P.M. in the final home of the 2022 season for the Miners.
