ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team will open defense of its Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division title this weekend when it opens conference play away from home, taking on an improving Drury squad in a four game series at U.S. Ballpark in Ozark, Mo.
The Miners and Panthers will play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, with the Saturday twinbill getting underway at 2 p.m. and Sunday's at noon.
S&T enters its GLVC opener looking to snap a three-game losing streak, which included a pair of extra inning losses last weekend at Saint Joseph's that dropped the Miners to 9-9 on the year. The Miners scored just three runs in the three games in Rensselaer after averaging over six per game prior to last weekend.
Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) continues to lead the Miners in hitting with a .368 batting average and also leads the way with 20 runs batted in, while
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville) is hitting .356 on thee year and
Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles) comes in at .327. S&T is batting .266 as a team heading into the Drury series.
Miller has a team- and GLVC-high 13 stolen bases and three triples as well as 21 runs scored on the year; the latter figure also ranks in the top 10 in the conference.
On the mound, the Miners are paced by
Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East), who had a 3.64 earned run average in a team-high 29 2/3 innings of work. Garza threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in Sunday's game at Saint Joseph's, while
Trent Green (Perryville, MO/Perryville) – who leads the staff with 20 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings – threw five scoreless frames in a relief appearance in Monday's series finale.
Drury, who finished last in the GLVC West a year ago, is off to a 12-6 start and has won five of its last six games. The Panthers swept a three-game series from Trevecca Nazarene after taking two of three at Southern Indiana – the team that beat S&T in the Midwest Regional final last May – the weekend prior to that.
The Panthers enter the weekend ranked second in the GLVC in hitting with a .312 average, led by Ryan Colombo's .400 average that ranks in a tie for eighth in the league. Colombo is also 4-0 on the mound this year with a league-best 1.62 earned run average.
Drury's offense has also been bolstered by the addition of shortstop Shane Benes, the son of former major leaguer Andy Benes, who ranks among the GLVC leaders with nine home runs and 28 runs batted in to go with a .384 mark at the plate. Dylan Bradshaw is hitting .360 on the year in a lineup that features six regulars hitting .300 or better.
Austin Simms has a 5.19 earned run average in five starts, while Garrett Woods has struck out 30 this year, averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
