Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 (ROLLA, Mo., March 8)—The McKendree University baseball squad picked up its first victory of the 2015 season Sunday during a doubleheader split at Missouri S & T. The Bearcats grabbed a 1-0 win in the opener before falling to the host Miners in the nightcap, 4-2.
 
The split gives McKendree a season record of 1-4. The Bearcats and Miners will meet in the rubber game of their three-game series Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Rolla, Mo.
 
Game one was a pitcher's duel between McKendree junior left-hander Sam Lidisky (Swansea, IL/Althoff Catholic) and Missouri S & T righty Micah Dohlen. Both hurlers went the distance in the seven-inning opener, with Lidisky picking up the victory. Lidisky allowed just five hits and struck out two without walking a batter. Dohlen scattered six hits and fanned six batters in picking up the hard-luck loss for Missouri S & T.
 
The opener was scoreless until the top of the seventh inning, when McKendree plated the lone run of the contest. The Bearcats used a two-out uprising to grab the 1-0 lead. After the first two batters were retired in the frame, sophomore outfielder Jay Roberts (Plainfield, IL/Plainfield North) reached on an infield single up the first-base line. Roberts then stole second base and scored on a single to left field by sophomore infielder Tyson Boehne (Carlyle, IL/Carlyle).
 
Missouri S & T (2-5) threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh as the tying run reached third base. But Lidisky got the final batter to fly out to Roberts in left field to preserve the Bearcats' first win of the year.
 
McKendree collected six hits in game one. Senior outfielder Kyle Rutledge (Bloomington, IL/Normal) was the only Bearcat player with two hits in the contest.
 
The Bearcats took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning of game two. Roberts drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a single by junior catcher Austin Avalos (Ballwin, MO/Parkway South). Junior infielder Adam Kunkel (Red Bud, IL/Red Bud) stepped up next and delivered an RBI single to left field to plate Roberts with the first run of the contest.
 
In the fifth inning, Missouri S & T took the lead for good with a three-run outburst to grab a 3-1 advantage. The Bearcats drew within a run at 3-2 in the top of the seventh as Kunkel provided his second run-scoring single of the game to score Roberts, who led off the frame with a single. Kunkel had two of McKendree's five hits in the nightcap.
 
The Miners regained a two-run lead with a run in the bottom of the seventh and held on to gain the doubleheader split with the Bearcats.
 
Sophomore right-hander Jacob Renfrow (St. Louis, MO/Hancock) was charged with the loss on the mound for McKendree. In five innings of work, Renfrow scattered seven hits and allowed three earned runs. He walked one in the outing.