SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri S&T was hurt by the long ball early in Thursday's opening round game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament, as Bellarmine set the tone by hitting three home runs in the first four innings and went on to defeat the Miners 13-2 at Meador Park.

The Miners will play in an elimination game Friday against the loser of the Drury-Saint Joseph's game, a contest set to begin about an hour after the S&T game had concluded.

After S&T starter Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East) pitched out of a two-on, one-out situation in the first, he was touched in the second by a two-run opposite field homer off the bat of Brady Pfaadt.   Moments later, a single by Drew Greenwood scored Bobby Brokamp with the Knights' third run of the second.

Josh Finerty's home run in the third – just over the outstretched glove of Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) in left – extended the Bellarmine lead to 4-0.  The third home run came off the bat of Jacob Pendred, as he hit an opposite field shot to open the fourth.

The Knights would add five more runs to the ledger before the fourth inning ended, as the Miners used three pitchers to get through that frame.  Bellarmine scored two additional runs in the fifth and another in the seventh.

In the meantime, the Miners struggled to get offense generated against Bellarmine lefthander Eddie Mathis, who held S&T to six hits in a complete game effort.  S&T did break Mathis' shutout in the eighth on a pinch-hit, two-run homer by Matt Reschke (Darien, IL/Hinsdale South).

The Miners' best scoring chance prior to the Reschke home run came in the third when the Miners had two runners in scoring position with two outs, but Mathis struck out Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) to end the threat.

Bellarmine (34-17) outhit S&T 18-6 in the game; every Knight starter had at least one hit in the contest.  S&T (26-22) had two extra base hits in the game, the home run by Reschke and a seventh inning double by Brett Yasui (Mililani, HI/Kamahameha).