Missouri S&T Athletics

The Miners’ 2011 baseball season was historic, as the Miners won the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division championship for the first time, earned a berth and won its first-ever game at the GLVC Tournament and also earned its first appearance at the NCAA Division II regional tournament in 39 seasons – and captured its first NCAA tournament win that season.  Propelled by a school record 10-game winning streak late in the year, the Miners overtook Quincy for the division title with a 21-7 GLVC record and finished with a school record for wins in going 30-19 that spring.  The Miners had two all-conference selections that season in pitcher Zack Gronek, who went 10-1 with a 2.38 earned run average – including a complete game win over defending national champion Southern Indiana in the opening game of the regional tournament – and catcher Josh Caffrey, who propelled the offense with a team-leading .347 average and 33 runs batted in to go along with his leadership behind the plate.  As a team, the Miners had another .300 hitter in Lee Voth-Gaeddert with a .333 average and a pitching staff that had one of the top earned run averages for a season in program history of 3.68.