ALLENDALE, Mich. — The 2026 Davenport baseball campaign came to and end on Saturday as the Panthers fell to Missouri S&T with a final score of 10–2 in NCAA Midwest Regional play. The Miners secured the win with a decisive five-run sixth inning.
Davenport opened the scoring in the second inning.
Ben Korson doubled to right field and scored on
Travis Liford's RBI single, giving Davenport a 1–0 lead.
In the fourth inning, the Miners capitalized on a defensive error by Davenport to take the lead. Denton Damgaard singled to center field, and on an error, both Bricen Smith and Garrett Meyer scored. Will Beckham added another run with an RBI single, putting the Miners ahead 3–1.
Davenport responded in the fifth inning when
Wyatt Epple singled, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on
Julian Contreras's RBI single. This reduced the Miners' lead to 3–2. However, the Miners answered back in their half of the fifth with an RBI single by Smith, extending their lead to 4–2.
The sixth inning saw the Miners break the game open. Caleb Horsey delivered a two-RBI double, and subsequent singles and walks added three more runs, increasing the lead to 9–2.
In the eighth inning, the Miners added another run on a sacrifice fly by Meyer, solidifying a 10–2 final score.
Colton Blankstrom started for Davenport, pitching 5 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and five earned runs while striking out two and walking two. He threw a total of 64 pitches, with 40 being strikes, and was tagged with the loss, marking his record at 3-6 for the season.
Brandon Skorupski came in for relief, facing control issues as he allowed three walks and one hit in just 1/3 of an inning, leading to two earned runs.
Brayden Flanders closed out the game, delivering 2 1/3 innings, surrendering only one hit and one earned run, while hitting two batters and recording one strikeout.
Epple recorded two hits and scored a run. Korson contributed with a double, adding another hit and scoring once during the game. Liford successfully stole a base while also collecting an RBI with one hit. The Panthers end the season with an overall record of 30-28.
