ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team moved a step closer to winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season title Sunday as it knocked off Maryville 6-1 at the Ballpark at S&T to earn a split of the four-game weekend series.
The Miners (29-15, 22-6 GLVC) got strong pitching performances from
Logan Slinkard (Affton, MO/Lutheran South) and
Dylan Wipf (Oak Park, IL/River Forest) to stifle the Saints, combined with some timely hitting late in the contest to hold onto its one-game advantage in the standings over Missouri-St. Louis. The Tritons completed a sweep of its series with Lincoln Sunday and will play at Maryville next weekend while S&T closes its GLVC schedule at Lincoln.
Slinkard blanked the Saints (25-20, 19-9 GLVC) on two hits over the first five innings, then Wipf took over in the sixth after Slinkard ran into trouble and got the final out of that inning. He retired 10 of the 12 batters he faced without allowing a hit over the final 3 1/3 innings to preserve the win.
S&T got on the scoreboard with a two-out rally in the third, as
Drew Baugus (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) singled, then stole second and went on to third on wild pitch ahead of Brycen Smith's hit through the left side of the infield. Smith would score the Miners' second run in the fifth, as he reached second after a hit and got third on a wild pitch; a throwing error on the play allowed him to score.
Maryville got a run back in the sixth on an RBI single by Dominic Anselmo, but the Miners threw out Jack Meyer when he tried to steal third to help get them out of the inning. Wipf wrapped up that frame by striking out Aaris Stolte with the bases loaded, the first of four he recorded in his outing.
The Miners tacked on insurance runs in the seventh on a two-run single by
Denton Damgaard (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain HS) and in the eighth on a bad hop single by
Nick Krodinger (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) – as the ball hit the lip of the infield and scooted past the second baseman – that plated two additional runs.
S&T outhit the Saints 11-4, with Smith, Krodinger and Damgaard all getting two hits apiece in the contest.
The Miners completed the weekend not only a game in front of UMSL, but are two games ahead of Drury and three over Maryville in the standings with four games remaining for all of those teams.
What's next:
The Miners wrap the regular season next weekend with a four-game series against Lincoln, which begins with a single game Thursday in Jefferson City, Mo.; first pitch is at 4 p.m. S&T and the Blue Tigers will play a doubleheader on Friday and a single game to wrap up the series on Saturday.
Missouri S&T has already clinched a berth to the GLVC Tournament, which begins May 6 in Marion, Ill. The Miners will open play on May 7 if they secure one of the top two seeds for the event.
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