ROLLA, Mo. – On the eve of its final home weekend of the 2016 season, Missouri S&T's baseball team has risen two spots to fifth in the latest NCAA Division II Midwest regional rankings released Wednesday.
S&T moved up from seventh after taking three of four away from home last week over Missouri-St. Louis and will take that ranking into a four-game weekend series against Maryville at the S&T Ballpark on Saturday and Sunday. Both twinbills are scheduled to begin at noon.
Quincy retained the top spot in the Midwest region for the second week in a row while Grand Valley State and Southern Indiana, propelled by four-game sweeps over the past weekend, jumped to second and third, respectively. Indianapolis checks in at fourth ahead of the Miners, who bring a 30-15 record into the weekend series.
Ashland is ranked sixth this week, followed by Hillsdale, Lewis, Missouri-St. Louis and Trevecca Nazarene.
The Miners, who are tied for second with Rockhurst in the GLVC West with a 15-9 mark in conference play, head into the weekend series looking to lock up a spot in the GLVC Tournament to go along with keeping themselves in strong contention for a berth in the regional tournament. The team standing in their way this weekend – Maryville – is in a scramble itself to make the conference tourney field, as it is currently tied for fourth place in the GLVC West standings.
The Saints, 21-23 overall and 12-12 in the GLVC, won three of four from Drury last weekend and have won two of their last three conference series. Maryville got its third win of the series against Drury on Louis Niemerg's walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth on Sunday.
Zack Ruckman enters the weekend ranked fifth in the GLVC in hitting with a .399 batting average and also leads the Saints with 13 stolen bases and 14 extra base hits. Sean Murphy is batting .333, while Dalton Schumer is at .304 on the season.
Maryville's power has come from Mitch Carriger, who has homered eight times this year and has driven in a team-high 36 runs. The Saints have hit 30 home runs as a team.
On the mound, the Saints are paced by righthander Robbie Gordon, who has a 4-3 record with a 3.86 earned run average in 56 innings of work. Earlier this season, Gordon threw a perfect game against Hillsdale. He leads the staff in wins along with Tyler Omlid and Brandon Downey and is tied with Steven Reynolds with 54 strikeouts.
The Miners rank fifth in the GLVC in hitting with a .307 batting mark, led by
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville)'s .423 average that ranks second in the GLVC. Miller is also second in the conference with 18 stolen bases, fourth in the league in on-base percentage at .480 and fifth in hits with 66.
Meanwhile,
Nick Ulrich (St. Louis, Mo./Vianney) is seventh in the conference with 42 runs batted in and leads the Miners with five home runs, while
Tyler Bodenstab (Independence, Mo./Truman) leads the league with six triples and is also fifth with 15 stolen bases.
S&T's pitching staff is currently fourth in earned run average at 4.20, led by eight-game winners
Keith Coulson (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) and
Dan Borek (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville). Borek has a 3.62 earned run average, second to
Aaron Bedsworth (New Bloomfield, Mo./New Bloomfield)'s 2.71 mark, while Coulson threw his league-high third complete game shutout this season in Sunday's opening game win at Missouri-St. Louis. Bedsworth leads the staff with 57 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings.
Ethan Krenning (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) is fifth in the GLVC with seven saves after picking up two in the series at UMSL.
Prior to Saturday's first game, the Miners will honor their 13 seniors who will be playing at home for the final time this weekend.
NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Rankings (May 4, 2016)
1. Quincy (31-11)
2. Grand Valley State (28-12-1)
3. Southern Indiana (30-15)
4. Indianapolis (31-15)
5. Missouri S&T (30-15)
6. Ashland (28-15)
7. Hillsdale (28-18)
8. Lewis (25-16)
9. Missouri-St. Louis (25-20)
10. Trevecca Nazarene (28-17)
