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| Cody Bass |
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- After seeing its own playoff hopes dashed earlier in the day, the Missouri S&T baseball team went about trying to ruin Southern Illinois Edwardsville's chances of making the Great Lakes Valley Tournament field by winning the second game of Saturday's doubleheader by the score of 11-10 at Roy Lee Field.
The Cougars eliminated the Miners from the playoff race with a 12-1 win in game one, but the Miners overcame a 7-1 deficit in the nightcap by batting around the SIUE bullpen in the late innings.
S&T trailed by that 7-1 count after five innings -- getting its only run to that point in the fourth when Zac Carter tripled and scored on Yaimel Javier-Cury's one-out single -- but saw its bats come to life in the sixth as it scored six times to tie the game and set up a wild finish.
The rally started when Thomas McCormick was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. After a hit by Javier-Cury, Eaf Redden was plunked by a pitch to load the bases. Cody Bass delivered a two-run single to knock out SIUE starter Nick Wooley, but the bullpen was unable to slow the Miners down.
Following a one-out walk to Owen Madison that loaded the bases again, Andrew Vance tripled into the alley in right center to clear the bases and cut the lead to 7-6. Moments later, Vance would score the tying run on Gerad Fox's opposite field single.
SIUE reclaimed the lead with two in the bottom of the inning, but the Miners tied it up again in the eighth when Madison singled home one run and the other scored on a bunt single by Fox.
The Cougars took the lead back in the last of the eighth when Daniel Thomson led off with a triple and came in on a hit by Michael Hopkins. However, the Miners took advantage of two SIUE errors and a pair of walks by reliever Daniel Bennett to get their first lead in the top of the ninth.
McCormick hit Bennett's first delivery up the middle for a single, then Javier-Cury hit a ball back to the mound -- but Bennett's throw went wide of second and both runners were safe. After a sacrifice bunt, the Cougars walked Cody Bass intentionally to load the bases. Brandon Cogan followed by hitting a chopper to third that Ben Bartley couldn't come up cleanly, allowing the tying run to score and keeping the bases loaded.
Madison put the Miners on top by lining a single over the outstretched glove of second baseman Josh Street to give S&T the 11-10 lead. Matt Lange pitched around a two-out walk in the bottom half of the inning to preserve the victory for Jordan Buck.
The Miners had 15 hits in game two, with Bass getting three of them and five others getting two apiece. Vance drove in three runs -- all on his triple -- while Fox, Bass and Madison drove in two apiece.
S&T took the early lead in game one when Fox singled, moved to second on a balk and scored on a hit by Carter. The Miners had a chance to extend the lead when they loaded the bases with one out in the third, but the Cougars escaped the jam without allowing a run and then scored three in the third, seven in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Fox and Carter had two hits each for S&T, which had just six hits in the contest.
The Miners (22-25, 15-16 GLVC), who broke their school record for wins in a season with Saturday's victory, close the 2008 season Sunday with a single game against the Cougars at noon. SIUE currenly trails second place Drury by percentage points for the final guaranteed playoff spot in the GLVC West.
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