MARION, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team's postseason run ended with a pair of losses in the semifinal round of the GLVC Tournament to Missouri S&T on Saturday at Mtn Dew Park in Marion, Ill. The Tritons lost game one 6-4 in 12 innings and the second game 8-1.
Game 1 – S&T 6 UMSL 4 12 innings
UMSL jumped out to the early lead with a run in the fourth inning. It loaded the bases with no one out for
Cade Grevengoed. Grevengoed shot one back up the middle but Bricen Smith tossed it to Nick Krodinger to force
Andrew Buescher at second as
Barrett Rose scored on the play. The Tritons had a chance to add on but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.
The Miners (31-23) tied the game in the fifth on Garrett Meyer's RBI single to center scoring Will Beckham.
The Tritons retook the lead in the home half of the fifth as
Braedon Stoakes drove home
Dane Stevenson with a single to center.
It remained that way until the top of the eighth. With runners at second and third and one out Jackson Evans lifted a fly ball deep enough down the right field to bring home Andrew Hedgecorth with the tying run.
UMSL regained the lead in the home half of the inning on
Mitch Bonczkowski's eighth home run of the year an opposite field shot that landed in S&T's bullpen.
The Tritons got two quick outs to start the ninth but a walk and a hit by pitch but the tying runner in scoring position for Aiden Cizek. Cizek found a hole on the right side of the infield and punched it through for an RBI single to tie the game 3-3.
The Miners took their first lead of the game in the 11th on another RBI single from Cizek these team a blooper that got over the head of Buescher and fell in to bring home the go-ahead run.
UMSL answered in its half of the 11th on
Owen Polly's two-out RBI single to right that scored
LJ Randle. The Tritons had a chance to walk it off but a fly out to left ended the inning.
S&T scored two runs on three hits in the 12th to take the lead and set UMSL down in order in the home half to force the if necessary game.
UMSL had 12 hits in the contest and were led by Polly, Stoakes, Bonczkowski and Buescher.
Jacob Arndt took the loss giving up two runs on three hits with a walk and a strikeout in his inning of work.
Game 2 – S&T 8 UMSL 1
In the nightcap, the Miners took an early 1-0 lead as Meyer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home a run. S&T added two more in the third on a groundout from Beckham and an RBI single from Meyer to make it 3-0.
The Miners broke it open in the sixth scoring three runs on three hits. Smith had the big hit in the frame delivering a two-run single back up the middle.
The Tritons got on the board in the eighth on a lead off home run to left off the bat of Bonczkowski for his ninth home run of the season.
S&T got a two-run single from Denton Damgaard in the bottom of the frame to seal the victory.
UMSL was held to seven hits in game two and was led by Stoakes with two of those.
Bryce Nicolay took the loss giving up three runs on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched.
The Tritons finish their season with a record of 29-24 including 16-15 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
