JOPLIN, Mo. – Playing their first midweek contest in nearly a month, the Missouri S&T baseball team headed west Tuesday to take on Missouri Southern in the lone matchup of the season between the two schools. The Lions (23-12) charged out to an early lead and never looked back as the Miners (14-12) couldn't keep pace with the home team's offense, falling by a final of 16-7.
After scoreless top of the first to open the game, Missouri Southern plated seven runs in their first at bats of the day to take the early lead.
The Miners answered back with two of their own in the second on a sacrifice fly by
Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) that plated
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) and a steal of home by
Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon) with runners at the corners following a walk from
Jaden Courtois (Festus, MO/Jefferson) that saw the catcher throw down to second after Berkhoff took off on the pitch.
The Lions scored four more runs in their half of the second before S&T put up three in the third. Berkhoff split the gap in right center for a ground-rule double that allowed
Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) and Weiner to score before a passed ball saw Mahurin cross home for the second time to make it 11-5.
MSSU used the long ball to score four runs over the course of the fourth and fifth innings to extend their lead to 15-5 before S&T scored a run in the sixth when
Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) through the right side to score Berkhoff.
Another home run from the Lions in the bottom of the sixth made it a 10-run game before
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) doubled and came around to score in the seventh for S&T on a wild pitch to make it 16-7 for what would end up being the final run of the game.
Berkhoff and Burgess led the way at the plate, each going 3-4 in the game with the former recording two doubles and driving in a pair with the latter also doubling and driving in a run. Wood and Weiner had the remaining balance of the Miners' hits, going 2-5 and 2-3 respectively.
Jacob Cook (Chicago, IL/Minooka Community) (2-2) took the loss in his first start of the season, being charged with seven runs in his outing.
Chasen Anderson (Moscow Mills, MO/Troy Buchanan) worked a scoreless 1 1/3 innings of relief with two strikeouts in his ninth appearance of the season and was one of five relievers called upon in the game.
Ben Belgrave (Cary, IL/Cary-Grove) worked two innings and allowed just one run on two hits with a strikeout, while
Matt Ellingson (Lenexa, KS/Olathe Northwest) worked a scoreless ninth and struck out a pair.
On deck, the Miners will head east for a four game Great Lakes Valley Conference series with Indianapolis beginning Friday at 2 P.M. central time.
