PITTSBURG, Kan. - The Missouri S&T baseball team faced its second Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association opponent of the season Wednesday afternoon and came away victorious, as the Miners knocked off Pittsburg State 13-7 behind a huge day from Tommy Ruether (Washington, MO/Washington).

Ruether as he reached base in all five of his plate appearances as he went four-for-four with a double, two runs scored and two runs batted in to help the Miners knock off one of the top teams in the MIAA.  
 
S&T (11-14) got on the scoreboard in the top of the first, as after back-to-back singles by Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) and Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville), Ruether delivered an RBI single up the middle that scored Wood to take the early lead. 
 
However in the bottom of the frame and with two outs, PSU's Daegan Brady evened the game at one with an RBI single to center that scored Ryan Koval.
 
In the third, S&T erupted for five runs beginning with an RBI single by Hampton that scored Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West). Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) made it 3-1 when he scored on a wild pitch from PSU starting pitcher Parker Tennill, then Ruether followed with an RBI single to center that scored Wood. After a pitching change, Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, then Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) followed with a squeeze bunt that scored Ruether for the final run of the inning. 
 
Pitt State (21-9) cut the deficit to 6-3, reliever Nate Wodka (Allen, TX/Allen) entered the game in the fourth and pitched two scoreless innings, striking out two and allowing just one hit as the Miners did add to their lead along the way, getting an RBI single from Hughes in the fifth. David Kephart (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) came in to start the sixth and threw another scoreless inning, but the Gorillas got a run on the board in the seventh on Nixon Brannon's hit that scored Joe Hamilton. 
 
In the eighth, Sam Monroe (Moline, Ill./Moline) entered the game as pinch-hitter and doubled right ahead of a two-run homer over the left center field wall by Nick Krodinger (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) to give the Miners a 9-4 lead. Pitt State scored three times in the bottom of the inning, two scoring on a hit by Hamilton, but the Miners put the game away with a four-run ninth inning.

Hughes scored Ruether with a sacrifice fly for the first run of the inning, then Monroe followed and delivered a three-run blast over the right field wall that scored Weiner and Ruether to make it 13-7. Matthew Kaiser (St. Louis, MO/Vianney) set the Gorillas down in order in the ninth, including a pair of strikeouts.
 
The Miners outhit Pitt State 14-9 as four other Miners had two hits apiece to go along with the four by Ruether. Monroe and Hughes drove in three runs apiece. On the mound, S&T used eight different pitchers with Wodka, Nate Kemp (O'Fallon, MO/St. Dominic) and Kaiser each recording two strikeouts.
 
Missouri S&T will return to Great Lakes Valley Conference competition with a four-game home series against Truman State starting Friday with a single game at 2 p.m. at S&T Ballpark. Read Full Article