SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Miners had their largest margin of victory since their opening series in today's 8-1 win over the Drury Panthers. They also recorded their third most hits in a game this season with 11.
Sam Monroe (Moline, Ill./Moline) started the Miners' day off strong with a single to left field on the first at bat of the game. Back-to-back outs by S&T's next two batters threatened to leave Monroe stranded before a triple by
Matt Souza (Escondido, CA/Christian) brought him home to give the Miners a 1-0 lead. Starting Pitcher
David Kephart (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) made short work of the first inning, getting a trio of groundouts on just nine pitches to move the game on to the second.
Nick Krodinger (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) got on base with the first at bat off an error by Drury's right fielder, soon moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Carter Bither (Springfield, MO/Springfield Catholic). Not long after,
Andrew Hedgecorth (Smithville, MO/Smithville) doubled to right field, bringing Krodinger home before the top of the inning ended with S&T out front 2-0.
The bottom of the second inning was another short one, with Kephart facing four batters and only allowing a walk. In the top of the third,
Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) would lead off with a single and would eventually get to third base, with Souza on first and only one out in the inning. A strikeout and a flyout would leave both runners stranded though. Kephart breezed through the bottom of the inning again, this time only facing three batters.
The top of the fourth was the Miners best of the day offensively, scoring three runs with five hits. For the fourth inning in a row, the Miners started the inning off with single, this time by Bither. This time, the opening hit was followed by two more, as
Drew Baugus (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) and Hedgecorth each singled on the next two at bats to load the bases with no outs. Next, Monroe's sacrifice fly to center field would bring Bither home and allow Baugus to advance to third. Weiner got a pair of RBIs next with a single to center field that brought both Baugus and Hedgecorth home, putting the Miners up 5-0. S&T would record one more hit in the inning, but no runs would come from it as they would go into the bottom of the inning up by five.
Neither team made much impact at bat in the next two half innings, but Drury would find their first hits of the day on the first two at bats of the fifth. The Panthers would move their runners to second and third off a sacrifice bunt but a groundout to Kephart followed by a strikeout would end the inning with Drury still scoreless.
Hedgecorth would get around to second base off an error and a stolen base to put the Miners in scoring position early in the sixth. He would make as far as third after a strikeout and a groundout but would not make it home after a foul out ended the inning. Kephart gave up just his third single of the day in the bottom of the sixth, but still only faced three batters after a double play ended the inning. He didn't have much of a break in the top of the seventh though, with the Miners only going through three batters. He would give up a hit to the first batter, who would eventually move into scoring position after two stolen bases. With one out Drury grounded out to second base, bringing their runner home for their first score of the day and making it a 5-1 game. Kephart would close the inning out on a strike out though, his second in the last three innings.
The top of the eighth would see the Miners with bases loaded and just one out as Drury made a pitching change. Weiner would outlast the new pitcher to get a walk, bringing a runner home for the Miners and prompting Drury to make another pitching change.
Kenneth Sugi (North Vancouver, BC/Carson Graham Secondary) would bring another run home with a sacrifice fly to left field that put the Miners up 7-1. Souza would come up to bat next, getting a single to bring another run home. During the course of the play, Souza looked like he lost track of the ball, making the mistake of rounding for second and getting caught between the bags and forcing him into a hotbox. Weiner, having advanced to third on the single earlier in the play, took the opportunity to steal home but was tagged out at the plate on a throw from Drury's second baseman to their catcher, ending the inning.
With the Miners up 8-1,
Cody Hazzard (Mazon, IL/Yorkville Christian) stepped in for Kephart in the top of the eighth. He started the inning off with a groundout and a strikeout before allowing back-to-back singles. But a flyout would end the inning without any Panthers crossing home plate.
Tyler Prince (Mexico, MO/Mexico) would get a hit with the first at bat of the ninth inning, but no runs would come from it.
Jacob Cook (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka Community) would step in to close the game, giving up a single to the first batter before a couple of flyouts and a groundout ended the game in a 8-1 victory for the Miners.
Kephart gave up just four hits and one run in the game, the win went to him bringing his season record to 2-1. Weiner, Souza, and Hedgecorth all led the team in hits with two each. Weiner also recorded the most RBIs with three.
The Miners record now improves to 11-10 with a 2-6 record in the GLVC. They return to the Ballpark at S&T for a series against William Jewell that begins on Friday.
