ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T finally got a chance this week to get some consistent time on the playing field and now gets set to open its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule this weekend when it hosts Wisconsin-Parkside in a four-game series at the S&T Baseball Field.

The series, which was scheduled to begin Saturday, will now be played on Sunday and Monday due to weather that is forecasted in the region.  The doubleheaders will begin at noon on each of the two days.

The Miners have gone 3-2 in the past week, winning two of three from McKendree and splitting a twinbill Tuesday against Lindenwood to bring a 4-6 overall record into their GLVC opener.  Wisconsin-Parkside returned to play Tuesday for the first time in nearly a month – dropping a 6-5 decision to Judson – and is 1-2 entering play this weekend.

S&T has batted .292 as a team and has one of the nation's top fielding percentage marks of .985, with just five errors in its first 10 contests of the season.  Tyler Johnson (Union, Mo./Union) leads the Miners with a .469 average, while Reed Brown (Rogers, Ark./Heritage) has a .405 mark and a team-high two home runs.

Lance Portwood (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Santa Fe), who tied an S&T single-game record with five hits in Sunday's game two win over Lindenwood and Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) are tied for the team lead with six runs batted in apiece. 

On the mound, the bulk of the work to date has been done by starters Micah Dohlen (Kent, Wash./Kent Lake) and Aaron Bedsworth (New Bloomfield, Mo./New Bloomfield).  Dohlen, who already has 19 1/3 under his belt, owns a 2.79 earned run average of 11 strikeouts, while Bedsworth has also fanned 11 in 14 2/3 innings on the hill.

The Rangers batted a collective .261 in their first three contests, led by D.J. Peltz's .455 mark and five runs batted in, while opposing teams have hit .330 against them.  Troy Bittenbender is also hitting .417 while Zach Cunningham checks in with a mark of .364; no other Ranger is hitting above .286.

Josh Serio, who has made the start in two of the Rangers' three contests to date, has struck out 12 hitters in 8 2/3 innings.  Wisconsin-Parkside's pitchers are averaging 10.96 strikeouts per nine innings.

S&T and UW-Parkside met in a non-conference series last season in Rolla with the Rangers winning two of the three contests that were played; the fourth game was cancelled due to weather.