MARION, Ill. – Missouri S&T Baseball put together another late offensive surge in Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship game, scoring six runs over the final two innings before falling to Missouri-St. Louis 13-8 at Mtn Dew Park. The Miners finished the weekend as the GLVC Tournament runner-up and will now await Sunday night's NCAA Division II Selection Show to see where the rank heading into the NCAA Midwest Regional.
After starting pitcher Nate Donovan (Ballwin, MO/Parkway South) struck out two in the first two innings, the Tritons opened the scoring with three runs in the third. S&T responded immediately in the bottom half though. Brennon Wibbenmeyer (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) led off the inning with a triple into the left-center gap before Drew Baugus (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) brought him home with an RBI groundout to make it 3-1.
UMSL extended its lead with two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth, though the Miners continued finding ways to generate offense. Nick Hooper (Grain Valley, MO/Grain Valley) reached after being hit by a pitch in the fifth inning and later scored when Baugus lined an RBI single into center field.
Missouri S&T began its comeback push in the eighth inning when Baugus, Will Muench (Wentzville, MO/Timberland), and Nick Krodinger (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto) opened the frame with consecutive singles. Garrett Meyer (Jacksonville, IL/Jacksonville) followed with a sacrifice fly to right field before a wild pitch later scored another run. Krodinger then crossed the plate on a balk to trim the deficit to 10-5, and Brennon Wibbenmeyer (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell) reached on an error later in the inning to bring home Bricen Smith (Perry, GA/Mount de Sales Academy) and make it a four-run game entering the ninth.
Missouri-St. Louis answered with three runs in the top of the ninth, but the Miners again responded offensively in their final at-bat. Baugus was hit by a pitch before Muench drew a walk and Krodinger delivered an RBI single to right field. Meyer then drove an RBI double into right-center field for his second RBI of the afternoon, setting a new Missouri S&T single-season program record for RBIs with 64.
Baugus paced the Miners offensively, finishing 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Muench collected three hits and scored twice, while Krodinger added two hits and two RBIs.
On the mound, Donovan made the start, striking out three, before Jack Manninen (River Falls, WI/River Falls) worked three innings in relief. Ethan Payne (Bentonville, AR/Bentonville) and Drew Timp (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) also appeared for the Miners, combining to allow just three hits.
Following the tournament, Dylan Wipf (Oak Park, IL/River Forest), Dylan Bates (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West), Nick Krodinger (DeSoto, MO/DeSoto), and Drew Baugus (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) were named to the GLVC All-Tournament Team.
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