Box Score ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T baseball team grabbed an early lead, fell behind, then bounced back and controlled matters for the rest of the afternoon to win the opener of its four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series Friday with an 11-4 win over Missouri-St. Louis at the Ballpark at S&T.

S&T (20-19, 11-14 GLVC) got on the scoreboard in the second, which started when Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) was hit by a pitch by UMSL starting pitcher Ryan Berry. Weiner went on to steal second and third and Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) followed by painting the right field line for a double on a 3-2 pitch that scored both runners.

Miner starter Kyle Athmer (Albers, IL/Breese Central Community) set down the first nine Tritons in order, but ran into trouble in the fourth as UMSL (21-22, 14-11 GLVC) had its first six hitters reach base in the inning. UMSL got its first run on a bases-loaded walk to Andrew Buescher, then Bryce Kulinski followed with a single to center that scored Brandon Olion that tied the game at two.
 
The Tritons took the lead on a Carson Holin ground out and scored their fourth run of the inning on another walk with the bases filled. Matt Ellingson (Lenexa, KS/Olathe Northwest) took over on the mound and retired Braedon Stoakes on a fly ball to end the inning.

In the bottom of the frame, S&T regained the lead with a three-run inning that started on a Weiner walk; he later scored on a squeeze bunt from Hughes to cut the deficit to 4-3. After a walk to Berkhoff and a pitching change, Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) singled with two outs to drive in Sam Monroe (Moline, Ill./Moline) with the tying run. Sill then got himself caught in a rundown heading to second, staying in the rundown long enough to allow Berkhoff to score to give S&T the lead.

Ben Belgrave (Cary, IL/Cary-Grove) took over on the mound in the fifth and shut down the Tritons from that point, striking out six and allowing just three hits in a five-inning stint to pick up the save. While Belgrave was keeping UMSL off the scoreboard, the Miners continued to add to their lead with runs in each of the next four innings.
 
S&T added two runs in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring the fifth inning runs on a two-out, two-run double down the left field line by Monroe and getting their sixth inning runs on a sacrifice fly by Sill and a wild pitch that scored Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West).
 
The Miners tacked on single runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Monroe and in the eighth on a Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) squeeze bunt that scored Sill.

Monroe had two hits and three runs batted in for the Miners, while Sill had two hits and two runs batted in. The Miners had just seven hits, but received six walks, had five batters hit by pitches and also stole nine bases in the contest, four of which came from Weiner.
 
The Miners will host the Tritons in a doubleheader Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for noon at the Ballpark at S&T. The senior members of the Miners will be honored prior to the twinbill, with the ceremony set to begin at 11:30 a.m.