ROLLA, Mo. – A critical six-game stretch on the road begins Tuesday for Missouri S&T's baseball team, as it takes on two division rivals in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in an ever-tightening race at the top of the standings.

The Miners will play a doubleheader Tuesday against Drury in Springfield, Mo. – playing the second of the season series with the Panthers – then head to Kirksville, Mo., this weekend for a four-game series against a Truman State team that is second in the GLVC in overall games won with 22.

Tuesday's doubleheader gets underway at 3 p.m. at Meador Park, while the Saturday and Sunday twinbills in Kirksville will start at noon each day.

Missouri S&T is sitting in third place in the GLVC West Division as play begins this week, just one game in back of William Jewell and Quincy, but also only a game in front of Missouri-St. Louis and Truman.  Meanwhile, Drury's ninth-inning rally Sunday to win the final game of its series with Truman State has the Panthers at 11-10-1 in league play, 3½ games in back of the division leaders.

The Miners used a ninth-inning rally to take the opening game of their weekend series against Quincy, but dropped the final three games to the Hawks that included an extra inning loss in Saturday's second contest.  S&T is 19-14 overall and 14-8 in the GLVC heading into play this week.

Despite being held in check for a better part of the weekend series by the Hawks, the Miners still rank third in the GLVC in hitting with a .305 average heading into Tuesday's action.  Tyler Johnson (Union, Mo./Union) is 11^th in the league in hitting with a .385 batting average, while Adam Richter (Breese, Ill./Mater Dei) is hitting .347 on the season and Trevor Karbowski (Standish, Mich./Sterling Central), who had four hits in Sunday's doubleheader, is at .345 on the season.

Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) continues to lead the way in home runs with four and runs batted in with 27 – tied for eighth in the league -- while Lance Portwood (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Santa Fe) has driven in 23 runs on the year.

Aaron Bedsworth (New Bloomfield, Mo./New Bloomfield), who had a solid six-inning outing in Sunday's nightcap, has a 2.91 earned run average to go with his 4-2 record, while Micah Dohlen (Kent, Wash./Kent Lake) is 4-3 with a 3.28 earned run average.  Blake Stephens (Chillicothe, Mo./Chillicothe), who got the win for S&T in the first game of the April 1 doubleheader with Drury, is 3-0 with a 3.13 ERA after allowing one run and striking out four in a four-inning stint in Saturday's opener.

Sunday's comeback win for Drury gave it a split of the weekend series with Truman State, as the Panthers come into Tuesday's contests at 16-16-1 on the year.  The Panthers have hit .292 as a team this season and lead the GLVC with 27 home runs, including a league-high eight by first baseman Luke Tewes.

Tewes leads the Panthers in hitting with a .377 mark and ranks fifth in the conference with his 29 runs batted in.  Dallas Williams is hitting .370 out of the leadoff spot for the Panthers, while Bobby Lang is batting .337 for the year.

Nick Costantino, the winning pitcher for Drury in game two of the April 1 twinbill, has a 1.80 earned run average out of the bullpen with a team-high 15 appearances, while Gage Jacobs has pitched in 13 contests and is second in the GLVC with nine saves.

Drury's team earned run average stands at 4.83; its top starter this year has been Trevor Richards with a 2-2 record and 4.11 ERA.

Truman State, who will play a doubleheader at Quincy Tuesday before facing the Miners, is 22-12 overall and 13-9 in the GLVC.  The Bulldogs have one of the conference's top offenses, as they lead the league in hitting with a .311 average and have scored a GLVC-best 215 runs in 34 games.

Two of the top hitters in the GLVC reside in the Bulldog lineup, as Dave Gambino is second in the conference in hitting with a .420 average and Paul Trenhaile is fourth at .414; Trenhaile is also one of the GLVC's most productive hitters with five home runs and a league-high 41 runs batted in, including eight in the weekend series against Drury.

Meanwhile, Zak Larkin is tied for the league lead in stolen bases with 17.

Pitching-wise, the Bulldogs rank in the middle of the pack in the GLVC with a 4.58 earned run average, but have two of the league's best starters in Kent Frantz (6-0, 2.20 ERA) and Cody Gardner (6-2, 3.54 ERA and a team-high 31 strikeouts).  Gardner has recorded complete games in five of his eight starts this season.