ROLLA, Mo. – After winning a road series for the first time this season, Missouri S&T's baseball team will look to duplicate that again this weekend when it plays a four-game series against Truman State in Kirksville, Mo.
The Miners and Bulldogs will face off in noon doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday as both are coming off their most successful weekends in Great Lakes Valley Conference play this season. Missouri S&T won three of four at Rockhurst, while Truman split a four-game series with Maryville.
S&T got strong starts from
Trent Green (Perryville, MO/Perryville) and
Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East) on Saturday to sweep the twinbill on day one in Kansas City, then rebounded from a tough 8-7 loss in Sunday's opener to win 5-4 in the nightcap to take the series. The Miners finished the weekend at 15-15 overall and 6-6 in the GLVC and sit in fourth place in the West Division heading into Friday's contests.
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville), who leads the Miners in hitting with a .384 batting average – putting him just outside the top 10 in the GLVC – and continues to lead the conference in stolen bases with 17 and triples with five, while also being tied for seventh in runs scored with 32.
Over the weekend, Miller tied the S&T all-time record for triples when he recorded his 13
th in Saturday's game two win over Rockhurst.
Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) enters the Truman series hitting .355 with a team-high 30 runs batted in, while
Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles), who homered twice last weekend to give him four on the year, enters with a .323 mark. Meanwhile,
Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield), who was seven-of-13 at the plate at Rockhurst, moved over the .300 mark for the season at .308.
Garza allowed one run in a complete game effort Saturday to lower his earned run average to 4.73 on the season, while Green, who gave up two runs in eight-plus innings in game one, dropped his ERA to 4.74 and leads the pitching staff with three wins and 30 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings on the hill.
Truman State currently sits in last place in the GLVC West at 3-9 and is 10-23 overall, but is coming off a four-game split with Maryville that included a rally from a three-run deficit in its last at-bat to pull out a victory.
Third baseman Jason Priest leads the Bulldogs in several offensive categories, including a .405 batting average that ranks fifth in the conference. Priest also has four home runs and 33 runs batted in to pace Truman in those categories.
Charlie Kreh is hitting .364 on the year with 17 runs batted in, while Josh Abegg has a .322 average and a team-high nine stolen bases. Chris Iliopoulos leads the Bulldogs with seven home runs.
On the mound, Bryan Clark has a 3-2 record and 2.98 earned run average; he combined with two relievers on a shutout in the Truman's other win over Maryville last weekend. Clark has thrown a team-high 45 1/3 innings and has fanned 26 while holding opposing hitters to a .240 batting average.
The Miners won three of four from the Bulldogs in last year's series in Rolla, after Truman had taken three of four during S&T's last trip to Kirksville in 2015.
