ROLLA, Mo. – With the Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule now past its halfway point, Missouri S&T will seek to keep itself at the top end of the league's West Division when it heads to Liberty, Mo., this weekend for a four-game series with William Jewell.
Prior the series with Cardinals that will consist of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, the Miners are scheduled to close out a 10-game homestand Wednesday when they host Lindenwood in a single game starting at noon. The start time was moved ahead two hours due to the possibility of late afternoon rain in the weather forecast.
The Miners took three of four last weekend from Truman State and find themselves in a tie for second place in the GLVC West with Rockhurst at 10-6 in conference play; Quincy leads the division with an 11-5 mark. S&T is 24-12 overall heading into Wednesday's contest against the 16-22 Lions, who beat the Miners 5-4 in St. Charles on March 8.
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville) currently ranks third in the GLVC in hitting with a .432 average while also ranking fifth in on-base percentage at .482. S&T has two other hitters over the .350 mark in
Justus Nelson (Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), who brings a .380 average into play this week and
Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman), who is batting .356 on the year and is tied for the GLVC lead with five triples.
Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) continues to lead S&T with five home runs and 33 runs batted in for a team that is hitting .313 as a squad, the fourth-best mark in the conference. The Miners also have the fourth-best team earned run average in the GLVC heading into play this week at 4.03, led by the 2.81 mark posted by seven-game winner
Aaron Bedsworth (New Bloomfield, Mo./New Bloomfield).
Dan Borek (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville) and
Keith Coulson (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central), who along with Bedsworth picked up wins on the hill during the weekend set with Truman, have won six games apiece. Borek threw a three-hit shutout in the series opener and brings a 3.81 ERA into the week, while Coulson has a 4.35 mark in 51 2/3 innings of work.
The Miners will be facing a William Jewell team this weekend that is looking to rebound from a series sweep at the hands of Maryville, which dropped the Cardinals from a tie for first in the GLVC West to a tie for fifth with Truman. Jewell is 22-16 overall and 7-9 in conference play.
Drew Standifer leads the Cardinals with a .348 average, while Garrett McKinzie is batting .345 and paces Jewell in the production categories with seven home runs and 37 runs batted in. Dylan Christie had also belted five home runs, while Dane Erbst has knocked in 40 runs, the third-most in the league and is tied with Bodenstab with the GLVC-best five triples.
On the hill, Austin Kretchmar – a first-team All-GLVC pitcher last season – has a 6-2 record and 2.79 earned run average in 61 1/3 innings of work while holding opponents to a .233 batting average. Bill Kirkpatrick has a 2.48 ERA and a 3-3 record in 54 1/3 innings, while Brendan Beatty has made eight starts with a 5.35 ERA. The Cardinals own a 4.22 earned run average as a team that ranks sixth in the GLVC.
Wednesday's opponent, Lindenwood, is looking to snap a three-game losing streak after dropping all three games of its weekend series at Washburn. The Lions are led at the plate by Nathan Prindle with a .365 average, nine home runs and 42 runs batted in, while Mike Ehrhard is batting .359 with seven homers and 33 runs driven in. The Lions are hitting .290 as a team for the season, while the pitching staff owns an earned run average of 6.20.
