ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T baseball team split a pair of high-scoring contests Saturday afternoon with McKendree at the Ballpark at S&T, as the Miners (19-18, 10-13) dropped the first game by the score of 13-8 before getting their first win in the weekend series with a 19-10 victory in game two.
Game 1: Bearcats 13, Miners 8
McKendree jumped out to an early lead, scoring in the first on an RBI double by Austin Francis that scored Katom Parnell and again in the second on a one-out solo homer from Brandon Roth to go up 2-0. The Bearcats extended that lead to 5-0 in the third when Michael Paule hit a three-run home run to left, then S&T got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) to score
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing).
S&T continued to chip away at the lead with a three-run fourth inning that started on back-to-back singles from
Jack Arbuckle (Webster Groves, MO/Webster Groves) and
Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair), then
Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) reached on an error by Francis at third that allowed Arbuckle to score. With runners on the corners, S&T executed a double steal and the throw ended up in short center field to allow Hughes to score.
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) followed with an RBI single to right that scored Burgess that cut the deficit to 5-4.
Roth hit his second home run of the game with a man on In the fifth to extend the Bearcat lead back to three, but the Miners battled their way back and tied the game in the sixth.
The S&T scoring in the sixth started on a wild pitch with the bases loaded from McKendree reliever Nate Arnold that scored Wood, then later walked in another run to cut the lead to one. Another wild pitch, this one by Jameson Strozier, allowed
Sam Monroe (Moline, Ill./Moline) to cross the plate to tie the game at seven.
However, the Bearcats responded by scoring six times in the seventh, taking the lead on an Paule RBI double and then scoring five more runs in the inning with a hit along the way. S&T was able to get one run across in the final inning on a RBI single by
Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville).
In game one, S&T was outhit 12-7, as seven different Miners had a hit in the game. Starting pitcher
Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) struck out three batters, while reliever
Matthew Kaiser (St. Louis, MO/Vianney) was tagged with the loss.
Game 2: Miners 19, Bearcats 10.
After
Estin McBroom (Monett, MO/Monett) recorded two strikeouts after giving up a leadoff single, the Miners went to work offensively. Burgess walked to open up the bottom of the inning and came all the way around to score on an RBI double to center by Sill. Following his double, Sill stole third and came in on a sacrifice fly by Wood to give S&T the early 2-0 lead.
S&T added two more runs in the second as
Tommy Ruether (Washington, MO/Washington) led off with a triple and scored on a double steal after
Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) drew a walk. Two batters later,
Carter Bither (Springfield, MO/Springfield Catholic) ripped a run-scoring double to left that scored Berkhoff.
The Miners busted the game wide open with a nine-run third inning that started on a walk to Sill, who would proceed to steal and second and third. Wood singled him home, then Hampton followed with a two-run home run to left to make it 7-0. After a walk to Monroe and another stolen base, Ruether belted a two-run home run over the right center field wall.
S&T didn't stop there against the Bearcat bullpen, as it loaded the bases on single from Berkhoff and back-to-back walks before Sill stepped in the box and delivered a deep shot over the left center field wall for a grand slam that increased the lead to 13-0.
McKendree got on the scoreboard in the fourth on a three-run homer by Brody Macak, then cut the lead to 13-7 with four runs in the fifth before reliever
Treyton Ruth (Rolla, MO/Rolla) entered the game and got S&T out of the inning. The Miners went back to work at the plate in the bottom of the frame and got the four runs back, the first coming when Sill knocked in his sixth run of the game with an RBI single.
Hampton brought home another run with a groundout to second, then Sill scored on a wild pitch and Reuther delivered a run-scoring to close out the scoring in the fifth.
The teams traded home runs in the sixth, as Austin Francis hit a three-run homer for McKendree in the top of the inning before Wood hit a no-doubt two-run homer over the left field wall for the final runs of the contest.
Sill, Hampton and Ruether all had three hits each as the Miners had a 16-8 advantage in hits in game two. McBroom pitched 4.2 innings and struck out six to earn his third victory of the season.
The Miners will conclude the series against McKendree with a single game Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for noon at the Ballpark at S&T.
