MARION, Ill. – For the second day in succession, Missouri S&T surrendered a lead in the ninth inning at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament and saw its season come to a close as a result, as Lewis scored twice in the top of the ninth to down the Miners 4-3 at Mtn Dew Park.
S&T (24-24) led 3-0 after six innings and 3-2 heading into the ninth, but the Flyers loaded the bases against Miner reliever
Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) and got two runs across, the last on a fielder's choice as S&T was unable to turn an inning-ending double play.
Playing on a misty afternoon, the front half of the contest was a pitcher's duel between S&T's
Kyle Athmer (Albers, IL/Breese Central Community) and Lewis' Michael Sclafani. Athmer kept the Flyers (30-22) off the scoreboard over the first five innings and Sclafani didn't allow a hit over the first three and took a shutout of his own into the bottom of the fifth.
But in the fifth,
Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) got the inning started with a walk and
Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) followed with a single through the left side. After
Chase Burgess (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley West) was hit by a pitch to load the bases,
Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) got S&T on the scoreboard by drawing a bases-loaded walk. The Miners added a second run in the frame on a sacrifice fly by
Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) that scored Berkhoff.
S&T scored another run in the sixth – without the benefit of a hit – on a sacrifice fly by Berkhoff that brought in
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette).
Athmer carried his shutout into the seventh, but was replaced after the first two Lewis batters reached base in that inning. The Flyers would load the bases, then took advantage of a Miner error to get on the board. Moments after that, a sacrifice fly by Kevin Barry cut the Miner lead to 3-2.
Morrow entered the game in the eighth and retired the Flyers in order, but allowed a leadoff double to George Bilecki to start the ninth. After getting a strikeout, Michael Alt legged out a short dribbler to second to put runners on the corners. Following a walk to Angelo Cantelo to load the bases, Barry singled in the tying run and Cain Headrick followed by reaching on the fielder's choice that score the go-ahead run.
The Miners had a good scoring chance in the ninth when Hughes drew a leadoff walk, but pinch-runner
Carter Bither (Springfield, MO/Springfield Catholic) was picked off. Berkhoff drew a walk and Burgess was hit by a pitch to get Berkhoff into scoring position, but Sill lined into a double play as Berkhoff was caught too far off second to end the contest.
S&T had just two hits in the game – a fourth-inning single by
Sam Monroe (Moline, Ill./Moline) and Berkhoff's hit in the fifth. Athmer pitched 6.1 innings and fanned five in his start.
