BOLIVAR, Mo. - The Missouri S&T baseball team opened its four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series with Southwest Baptist Thursday evening by recording its first shutout of the season and extending its winning streak to four games by blanking the Bearcats 8-0.

The victory, which was also S&T's sixth in its last eight contests, allowed the Miners to move back to the .500 mark for the season at 15-15 overall. S&T also improved to 6-11 in GLVC play with Thursday's win.

Dylan Mollett (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) and Nate Wodka (Allen, TX/Allen) combined on the shutout on the mound for the Miners, allowing five hits between them and striking out 10. Mollett fanned seven and allowed three hits over the first seven innings before turning the game over to Wodka in the eighth.
 
S&T got on the scoreboard in the second on a leadoff solo homer from Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) to take the early 1-0 lead. Mollett held onto that one-run lead over the next four innings on the hill – allowing just one hit in that span – before the Miners scored in each of the last four innings to bust the game open.

In the sixth, Tommy Reuther reached first on a wild pitch following a strikeout, then Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) followed with a two-run blast over the left center field wall to extend the lead to three. The home run was the 20th of his career, making him the second Miner to reach the 20-home run mark as he continues to etch his name deeper in the S&T baseball record books.
 
S&T then erupted for three runs in the seventh, an inning that was started on back-to-back walks drawn by Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) and Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) as the Bearcats (7-24, 3-10 GLVC) made a pitching change to reliever Jake Fuller. Fuller followed with a wild pitch that advanced Hughes and Berkhoff into scoring position before Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) hit a chopper to shortstop and Hughes beat the throw at the plate to make it 4-0. 
 
With runners on the corners, S&T executed a double steal as Berkhoff scored from third as the throw went to second; Burgess advanced to third as the throw went into center field. Burgess scored the final run of the inning on a double play.  
 
The Miners tacked on single runs in the eighth and ninth, scoring in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by pitch-hitter Matt Souza (Escondido, CA/Christian) and in the ninth on an RBI single by Hampton.

S&T had only six hits in the game, two coming off the bat of Hampton, but was the beneficiary of nine walks issued by SBU pitching. Colby Sneed had three of SBU's five hits on the evening. 
 
The series will continue Friday afternoon with a noon doubleheader in Bolivar, Mo.
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