ROLLA, Mo. – After an unsatisfactory start to their 2024 campaign where the UIndy baseball team opened with a 2-6 mark, the Greyhounds flipped the switch to start GLVC-conference action, sweeping the Missouri S&T Miners on their home turf, securing three of the four victories on Sunday.
 
The Hounds opened Sunday business with a continuation of the second half of Saturday's doubleheader, starting in seventh inning with a UIndy lead of 10-8. Despite a big push from the Miners in the bottom of the ninth, the Hounds held on to seal that victory 12-11.
 
The close contests continued into Sunday as the Hounds picked up wins three and four via just a combined three-runs. Dakota Sill and Caleb Vaughn were the offensive leaders for the Hounds in the final three games of the set, with Sill notching seven total bases for a .462 average across the contests and Vaughn nabbing three RBIs on a .700 slugging percentage.
 
Big-moment pitching returned for the Hounds in the last two contests as E.J White grabbed his second and third saves and Austin Bestul grabbed his first of the year, calming the storm of the Miners in the series finale with a crucial strikeout.
 

Brought the brooms to Rolla! ???? pic.twitter.com/B0KRKgcVLW

— UIndy Baseball (@UIndyBaseball) March 10, 2024

 
GAME 1 | UIndy 12, S&T 11 – Continued from Saturday
The Miners, after being crushed in the first game of the series, came out swinging as an RBI groundout and a deep right-center triple put them up 2-0 after just the first frame. The bats for the Greyhounds stayed alight as they scored in every inning from the second to the end of the contest. The big punch came in the second where a four spot, highlighted by a Vaughn two-run bomb gave the Hounds a lead they never looked back from.
 
Carter Nowak, making his first start of the season, maintained his team-leading ERA as he went five and two thirds strong for the Hounds, only giving up two earned runs and punching out four in the process.
 
White grabbed his first K of the day in the bottom of the sixth, right before the halting, and picked right back up the next day, surviving an error to leave the game with a save.
 
GAME 2 | UIndy 5, S&T 3
With the first "scheduled" contest on the docket, it was Logan Peterson set to start for the Hounds as the senior went four innings of two-hit baseball, leaving with a season high in strikeouts. His offense rewarded excellence, etching across a pair in the second inning, the second coming via a Bryce Goodwine RBI double. Sill later in the third was the beneficiary of some poor Miner defense as an E5 with bases loaded brought the Hounds lead to 3-0.
 
A big two-run double in the fifth and a solo shot in the sixth by the home team evened up the score. But as the long ball tied it for the Miners, small ball would regift the Hounds the lead as with runners on first and third, Zack Williams laid down a beauty of a bunt that allowed the speedster Easton Good to score from third. That turned the eyes to the basepaths as a double steal by Williams and Drew Donaldson elicited a poor throw by the catcher, allowing another run to score and the Hounds to take a two-run lead.
 
White yet again played hero ball, working into and out of trouble in the bottom of the seventh to leave with his second-straight save.
 
GAME 3 | UIndy 12, S&T 11
The Miners, fighting to avoid the sweep, controlled the action early in the contest, scoring five in the first three innings. It was finally in the bottom of the third when Payton Plym, the Black Hawk transfer, came in and shut it down. A pickoff and a fly left a runner on to end the third and then a one-two-three fourth lit a fire under the offense, kicked off by an oppo single by Sill. Will Spear and Goodwine kept passing the baton, each scoring singles into the right side of the field, the later scoring Sill from third as the Hounds dug into the Miner lead.
 
Another run in the sixth was the trailer for the big inning the Hounds were chasing in the seventh as a Goodwine RBI triple brought the lead down to one. Situational hitting by Good scored Goodwine from the third and tied the ballgame. Donaldson later hammered a ball into right, scoring his fellow middle infielder and landed himself on second base, giving the Hounds their first lead of the battle. Baserunning continued to be a strength of the Hounds as a delayed double steal by Williams and Donaldson resulted in the fourth run of the frame.
 

Now THAT'S baserunning!

Big Z catches em napping and Drew Donaldson STEALS HOME! pic.twitter.com/RhgDS08BFP

— UIndy Baseball (@UIndyBaseball) March 10, 2024

 
Already with the lead, the Hounds let it rain in sunny Rolla, Mo. as they scored five more in the eighth, the big one coming off the bat of Cole Hampton as a double down the left field line scored two and made it 12-5.
 
The Miners did not quit, answering the offensive onslaught with one of their own, scoring three in both the bottom eighth and ninth. With the winning run at the dish and the tying run at second, the Hounds called for Bestul, who ended the ballgame with a punchout and secured the four-game sweep.
 
UP NEXT
The Hounds return home for another weird "doubleheader." They welcome in the Lake Erie storm to Greyhound Park for two contests, the first of which is the culmination of a halted game from their season opening series dating back to mid-February. That game will be followed by a full nine-inning ballgame with the Storm following a brief intermission. Game one's first pitch is scheduled currently for noon.