OZARK, Mo. -- Missouri S&T Baseball completed the series sweep of Southwest Baptist on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Bearcats 11-3 to extend the Miners' win streak to 15.
Drew Baugus (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood),
Garrett Meyer (Jacksonville, IL/Jacksonville), and
Bricen Smith (Perry, GA/Mount de Sales Academy) all surpassed 100 career hits at S&T during the series.
A trio of hits in the first two innings led to four S&T runs scoring in the early innings, giving the Miners a 4-0 lead. Two of those hits came from Meyer, with the third coming off the bat of
Will Muench (Wentzville, MO/Timberland). Starting pitcher
Logan Slinkard (Affton, MO/Lutheran South) was effective on the mound, giving up just one hit in the first three innings. Both team's pitchers managed the game well through the middle innings, only allowing one baserunner in the fourth and fifth innings.
Slinkard got into trouble in the bottom of the sixth, getting bases loaded with 0 outs on the board. However, an infield pop-up along with a strikeout by Slinkard allowed the Miners to get out of the inning unscathed. The Miners answered with their largest inning of the day, scoring five in the top of the seventh. Singles by Meyer and
Will Beckham (Mountain Home, AR/Mountain Home) each plated runs early in the inning, with both men along with
Scott Thompson (Greeley, CO/University) crossing home plate later in the inning after a handful of SBU errors.
The Bearcats finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh, getting a runner on with a hit by pitch and working him around to score on a single two at bats later.
Jackson Yerkes (Rossford, OH/Rossford) stepped in to pitch for the Miners at the end of the seventh and drew a fly out to center field to end the inning with S&T still in front 9-1.
Baugus hit a single and Beckham added a double in the 8th, scoring one run as the Miners improved on their lead. The Bearcats got the run back in the bottom of the inning, hitting a single and loading the bases to score one and make it a 10-2 contest entering the final inning. Both teams added runs in the 9th with the Miners' getting a double from
Aiden Cizek (Wildwood, MO/Lafayette) and a single from Thompson to score theirs, while SBU's came in similar fashion with a lead off double and a single scoring the run.
The team .365 in the series, led by Meyer's 8 hits on 17 at bats of a .471 batting average. Beckham and Cizek both hit homers in the series, with the former tying with Meyer for the series-high in RBIs at seven. Slinkard recorded the best ERA out of all the Miners starting pitchers, recording a 1.35 in Saturday's game.
Andrew Hedgecorth (Smithville, MO/Smithville) led the pitching crew in strikeouts, recording five in his complete game performance on Friday.
What's Next
S&T returns to Rolla for a home series against Illinois Springfield next week, beginning with Senior Day and Pickaxe Platoon Rewards sticker day on April 10th.
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