ROLLA, Mo. – In the midst of a tight race to determine which teams will make the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament field, Missouri S&T's baseball team will look to improve its position in the mix as it faces Missouri-St. Louis in a four-game series this weekend.
This weekend's series – which was scheduled to take place at the S&T Ballpark – has been moved to Crane Stadium at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo., and will begin on Friday afternoon due to the weekend weather concerns in the Midwest.
The Miners and Tritons will play a doubleheader Friday starting at 3 p.m. and will look to complete the series Saturday and or possibly Sunday, depending on the weather situation throughout the weekend.
After dropping the opening game of its series with William Jewell, the Miners bounced back to win the final three contests and moved into sole possession of third place in the GLVC West Division standings. The three wins included a rally from an eight-run deficit to win the first game of Monday's twinbill, matching the largest comeback for a win in S&T history.
As a result, Missouri S&T enters this weekend set with the Tritons just one game in back of Drury for second place in the division and one game ahead of William Jewell, while its final two opponents in GLVC play – UMSL and Maryville – are two games behind the Miners with the top four teams earning berths to the conference tournament.
The Miners – who are 21-18 overall and 11-9 in the GLVC -- have six regulars hitting better than .300 on the season, led by
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville)'s .379 mark. Miller continues to lead the conference with 20 stolen bases and also ranks among the league leaders in on-base percentage at .458 and in runs scored with 39.
Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) comes into the UMSL series with a .359 batting average and has driven in a team-high 36 runs, while
Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles) has knocked in 31 to go along with a .308 mark and four home runs.
Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) and
Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) are also over the .300 mark as is
Zach Bracken (Berthoud, CO/Berthoud), who moved above that plateau after going six-of-10 with seven runs batted in during Monday's doubleheader sweep.
Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville) and
Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East), the two S&T starters to pick up wins in the William Jewell series, lead the pitching staff going into the weekend. Borek is tied for the team lead in wins with
Matt Lamb (Doniphan, NE/Grand Island) with four apiece and owns a 5.69 earned run average, while Garza, who is 3-2, has a 4.87 ERA.
UMSL, who enters the weekend series at 15-23 overall and 9-11 in conference play, possesses an offense that has the GLVC's fourth-best team batting average at .317. Nick Ulrey has a .386 average that ranks among the top 10 in the league, while Tanner Hudsoin is hitting .368 and Cooper Vinz comes in with a .362 mark.
Ulrey also leads the Tritons with 39 runs batted in, while Vinz has brought home 35 and has a team-high four home runs.
While the Tritons' offense has been one of the best in the league, their pitching staff enters the weekend with an earned run average of 7.12 that ranks at the bottom of the GLVC. However, starter Kevin Smith comes in with a 5-2 record and 4.14 ERA as he has struck out nearly one hitter per inning pitched. Smith was a recent recipient of the GLVC's pitcher of the week award after throwing a four-hit shutout in a win over Rockhurst.
