ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T baseball team continued its four-game home series with Hillsdale with a sweep over the Chargers Sunday afternoon at the S&T Ballpark, capped by a walk-off grand slam by
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) to win the second game of the twinbill 7-6. The Miners won the first game of the doubleheader 11-2, using two big innings in the middle of the contest to take control.
Game 1:
The Miners took advantage of some defensive struggles by the Chargers in game one, scoring an unearned run in the first and four more unearned tallies in taking the lead in the fourth.
In the first,
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) reached base on a walk and then after breaking for second, was able to reach third on a wild pickoff throw by Hillsdale pitcher Paul Brophy. With two outs,
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) singled to center to score Sill to get S&T on the scoreboard.
In the top of the fourth, Hillsdale tied the game at 1-1 on back-to-back hits; a single by Will Shannon and a double by Joe Hardenbergh where Shannon came around to score. With two outs, Cody Kanclerz doubled to left to score Hardenbergh to give the Chargers a 2-1 lead. Following the double, S&T went to
Kyle Athmer (Albers, IL/Breese Central Community) out of the bullpen and he recorded the final out of the inning without any further damage.
When the Miners came to bat in the fourth,
Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) ended up at second to open the inning following a throwing error by Kanclerz.
Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) bunted Hampton over to third and
Carter Bither (Springfield, MO/Springfield Catholic) tied the game at two with a single to left that scored Hampton.
After
Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) was hit by a pitch, then the two runners executed a double steal to put runners on second and third ahead of Wood, who singled into center to bring home Bither and Burgess. Weiner followed with a double to left that brought around Wood to complete the four-run fourth.
S&T broke the game open in the fifth with a five-run uprising, which began when Voss was hit by a pitch. The Miners got their first run when Voss stole third and scored on an overthrow by Jaekob Sallee. Later in the inning with the bases loaded,
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) doubled to left to score all three runners to give S&T a 9-2 lead, then Weiner drove in Sill with a hit for the fifth run of the inning. Sill drove in the final run in the sixth with an RBI double.
Athmer picked up his first win of the season as he threw the final 3.2 innings, recording six strikeouts and not allowing a hit. Wood and Weiner led S&T with three hits each and Sill had four runs batted in as the Miners outhit Hillsdale 11-5.
Game 2:
Estin McBroom (Monett, MO/Monett) got the start in game two for the Miners, but he walked all four Hillsdale batters that he faced to give the Chargers the early 1-0 lead.
Ben Belgrave (Cary, IL/Cary-Grove) took over on the mound and the three runners he inherited all scored as well, two on a double by Jeff Landis that gave Hillsdale a 4-0 lead.
Belgrave settled down and delivered three straight scoreless innings to allow the Miners a chance to get back into the game. With two outs in the third, Burgess and Sill reached base on back-to-back walks and then on a double steal attempt, an overthrow at third allowed Burgess to come into score and get S&T on the board.
The Miners got two more runs across in the fourth as
Matt Souza (Escondido, CA/Christian) singled in a run and
Carter Bither (Springfield, MO/Springfield Catholic) reached on a fielder's choice that scored Voss to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Hillsdale got one of the runs back in the fifth when Danny Passinault scored on a wild pitch, then tacked on a run in the seventh on a solo home run by Lewis Beals before handing the ball over to reliever Zane Barnhart for the bottom of the inning.
Barnhart was unable to retire any Miners in the seventh, as Bither walked, Burgess was hit by a pitch and Sill dropped a single down the line in right to load the bases with nobody out. Wood followed by blasting a Barnhart delivery over the fence in left to win the game and improve the Miners to 7-3 on the season.
On the mound, the Miners used five different pitchers; the last of the five,
Nate Kemp (O'Fallon, MO/St. Dominic), picked up the win.
This series will conclude Monday with a single game at 1 p.m. at the S&T Ballpark.
