ROLLA, Mo. – With most of the non-conference schedule behind it, Missouri S&T's baseball team will get Great Lakes Valley Conference play started this weekend when it hosts Drury in a four-game series at the S&T Ballpark.
The Miners and Panthers – the defending GLVC Tournament champions --- will play doubleheaders on Friday at 1 p.m. and Saturday at noon. The teams split their four matchups last season in a pair of mid-week doubleheaders, with this season's series being the first on a weekend since 2010 as the GLVC has switched to a division-only conference slate.
The Miners took three out of the four games that they played last week, opening with a 10-run win at Pittsburg State, followed by victories over Saint Joseph's and Grand Valley State at the Midwest Region Crossover in Westfield, Ind., before seeing their four-game winning streak end with a loss to Tiffin Sunday afternoon.
S&T is 13-6 following last weekend's action and comes into the Drury series hitting .314 as a team, the third-best mark in the league. The Miners have two hitters over the .400 mark as
Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) checks into play with a .414 average and
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) is hitting .406; Ulrich also pleads the Miners with three home runs and 23 runs batted in.
Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman) is batting .362 and is tied for the GLVC lead with four triples, while
Tyler Johnson (Union, Mo./Union) is at .351.
S&T righthander
Keith Coulson (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) earned his second GLVC "Pitcher of the Week" award Monday after firing a five-hit shutout in the 7-0 victory over Saint Joseph's and has three wins along with
Aaron Bedsworth (New Bloomfield, Mo./New Bloomfield) and
Dan Borek (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville). Coulson comes into the week with a 2.93 earned run average, while Bedsworth has fanned a team-high 30 hitters in 30 1/3 innings of work and owns a 3.26 ERA.
Drury enters the weekend set with S&T with a record of 8-13 after picking up three wins in four games at the Midwest Region Crossover. The Panthers won their first three contests before falling to Grand Valley State Sunday.
The Panthers are hitting just .249 as a team on the season and have two hitters over the .300 mark in John Goodrich, who is hitting .356 and Ryan Colombo at .346. Conner Wilson leads Drury with 11 runs batted in and is tied with Connor Pomering with two home runs; the Panthers have hit only five home runs as a team.
Colombo has also made five starts on the mound with a 3-2 record and 1.46 earned run average in 37 innings of work. Luke Burnidge and Sterling Sharp have also made five starts apiece and have ERAs of 5.22 and 5.53, respectively.
