Matt Campbell

The Miners got more solid pitching Saturday and got better end results for it than on Friday, as they swept a doubleheader from Rockhurst at the Missouri S&T Baseball Field by scores of 1-0 and 4-0.

S&T, which had dropped a 2-1 decision to the Hawks Friday, posted a doubleheader sweep where both wins were shutouts for the just the third time in school history. The Miners had pulled the feat off in 1969 and most recently in 1980 against Maryville University; they had never done it in a conference twinbill until Saturday.

Brian Rickert threw a complete game five-hitter in the opener, then Matt Campbell matched that performance in the second game to improve the Miners' mark to 11-13 overall and 5-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Rickert got the only run he would need in the opening inning when Yaimel Javier-Cury hit a sacrifice fly to score Andrew Vance with what turned out to be the only run of the contest. The senior hurler then worked his way out of a bases loaded, none out situation in the second.

Rickert got a ground ball that led to a force out at the plate for the first out, then fanned Nick Troilo and got Zack Troilo to ground out to third to escape the jam. Rockhurst also had two runners in scoring position in the fourth, but Rickert got a strikeout to get out of that inning.

The Miners had three hits in the first game.

In the second game, the Miners broke on top in the opening inning again. Vance drew a leadoff walk, went to third on a hit by Zac Carter and scored on a sacrifice fly by Thomas McCormick.

S&T added to its lead with runs in the fourth on an RBI double by Louie Joseph to score Brandon Cogan, the sixth when Robby Martin scored on a wild pitch after getting a leadoff double and in the eighth when Martin doubled again and came in to score on two balks by Hawk reliever Michael Bell.

Campbell, meanwhile, kept Rockhurst in check all afternoon as it had only one inning in which more than one runner reached base. In that instance, the Hawks tried a double steal that the Miners' snuffed out when Cory Coquillard was thrown out at the plate.

Campbell struck out five and also got errorless defense behind him, with the Miners making two double plays to escape trouble.

S&T had 10 hits in game two, with Carter, Javier-Cury and Martin getting two apiece.

The Miners and Hawks will wrap up their four-game weekend series with a single game Sunday starting at noon.