ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T won both games in today's 7 inning/9 inning doubleheader to sweep the series against Winona State and start the season 4-0.
Ben Belgrave (Cary, IL/Cary-Grove) was starting pitcher for the first game and
David Kephart (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) was starter for game 2.
Game 1:
The Warriors got a man in scoring position early, with a double to left field on the second at bat of the game. A ground out to third would allow the runner to advance to third, but that was as far as he would go, with the next batter popping out to shallow right field. WSU's pitching looked shaky in the bottom of the first, walking
Sam Monroe (Moline, Ill./Moline) and hitting
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette). After Monroe got picked off stealing second, the HBP on Weiner advanced him to first. Back-to-back doubles to left field by
Kenneth Sugi (North Vancouver, BC/Carson Graham Secondary) and
Tyler Prince (Mexico, MO/Mexico) brought two runners home as the Miners took a 2-0 lead.
Winona State got a player in scoring position in the top of the second, but they were already at 2 outs and a groundout to first would leave two stranded for the Warriors. The Miners made the most of their time in the second inning, recording 3 hits and 3 runs to pull ahead 5-0. Belgrave had a solid third, fourth, and fifth innings, only allowing one hit and facing just 10 batters. RBIs from Andrew Hedgecort,
Matt Souza (Escondido, CA/Christian), Weiner, and
Tyler Prince (Mexico, MO/Mexico) gave the Miners a run in third, fourth, and two in the fifth, extending their lead to 9-0.
Right Hander
Jake Schisler (Quincy, IL/Quincy Notre Dame) came in as relief for Belgrave in the top of the sixth. After getting a strikeout and a fly out to start the inning, Schisler got into a little bit of trouble after the Warriors were able to get two hits, putting players on first and second. Another fly out would end the inning before WSU was able to bring anyone home though. The bottom of the sixth was the first inning of the day where the Miners did not score, but they still recorded a hit in that inning. Right hander
Dylan Wipf (Oak Park, IL/River Forest) came pitch out the final inning, which he did successfully, getting three outs and one strikeout in three at bats.
Game 2:
Kephart recorded three strikeouts in the first inning, but a double and a single by the Warriors still gave them a run to take an early 1-0 lead. The Miners didn't let them keep the lead long though, scoring twice off a single from Prince and a double from
Tommy Ruether (Washington, MO/Washington). Kephart allowed a run on the first at bat of the second. He followed it up with a strikeout while the infield took care of the other two outs by catching a runner stealing and a groundout to third.
A triple to right field by
Carter Bither (Springfield, MO/Springfield Catholic) got S&T in scoring position on the first at bat of the third. A sacrifice fly to center by
Keaton Scott (Hannibal, MO/Hannibal) brought Bither home, making it 3-1 in favor of the Miners. Kephart got into trouble in the top of the third, loading the bases with a single, a walk, and a hit by pitch with no outs. S&T would get a double play with the next batter, but WSU was still able to bring someone home to close the deficit 3-2. Kephart closed the inning strong with a strikeout to prevent the Warriors from bringing anyone else home. S&T hit two more doubles in the bottom of the inning, with Krodinger's bringing
Tyler Prince (Mexico, MO/Mexico) home and putting the Miners ahead by two again.
In his final inning of the game, Kephart went three for three against batters, picking up another strikeout along the way, to finish his day on a high note. After getting two quick outs to start the bottom of the fourth,
Sam Monroe (Moline, Ill./Moline) got on base with a single. He quickly moved around to third off a stolen base and a wild pitch in the following at bat. A walk for Weiner would set him and Monroe up to score off a triple by Sugi to give the Miners another two runs. The fifth inning saw
Andrew Agnew (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) take over pitching duties. He gave up a two-run home run to the third batter of the inning, but that's where the damage stopped as he struck out the next batter and got a fly out on the last batter of the inning.
Going into the bottom of the fifth, the Miners were up 6-4.
Nick Krodinger (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) added to their score with the first homer of the season, making it 7-4. Later in the inning, of couple of throwing errors by the Warriors resulted in
Drew Baugus (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) and
Carter Bither (Springfield, MO/Springfield Catholic) coming home to make it 9-4.
Matt Ellingson (Lenexa, KS/Olathe Northwest) took the mound for the sixth inning and only faced four batters and allowed one hit to end the top of the sixth quickly. Weiner hit a homer to start of the bottom of the six and good base running by Sugi put him in position to score off a sac fly center by Ruether. The Miners went into the seventh up 11-4. Each team would score a run in the eighth though, as S&T went on to win 12-5 and sweep the series against Winona State.
Series Stars:
Krodinger led the team in batting average (.667) and on base percentage (.692) in his nine plate appearances this series, as well as recording the first home run of the season for the Miners in game two. Weiner also had a good series at bat with a 1.000 slugging percentage and a home run of his own.
Belgrave and Mollett had the best performances from the mound this series, with ERAs of 0.0 and 1.8 respectively, with each one pitching five innings in their start.
The Miners will be hosting a series against Wayne State Friday through Sunday this week as the look to add more wins early in the season.
