ROLLA, Mo. – Coming off a split of a weekend series with Quincy, Missouri S&T hits the road for back-to-back Great Lakes Valley Conference weekend sets beginning Saturday when it takes on Rockhurst in Kansas City, Mo.
The Miners and Hawks will play noon doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday in a matchup of teams trying to make up ground on the leaders in the GLVC's West Division. The Miners are 3-5 in league play and 12-14 overall heading into the weekend, while Rockhurst is 4-4 and 16-12 overall; both teams trail a trio of 6-2 teams atop the division standings in Drury, Quincy and William Jewell.
S&T won the first and last games of the series with Quincy, getting solid pitching from
Trent Green (Perryville, MO/Perryville) and two relievers in the opener and a pair of timely late inning hits in the 4-2 win to close the set.
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville) continues to lead the Miners in hitting with a .375 average and is also the GLVC leader in stolen bases with 15 and triples with four, while also sitting among the league leaders with 28 runs scored.
Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei), who is hitting .362 on the year, is eighth in the GLVC with 28 runs batted in and tied for fifth with three triples.
Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) is the only other Miner regular hitting over .300, as he enters this weekend's series with a .310 average.
On the mound, Green has a team-best 5.23 earned run average in 41 1/3 innings – which ranks among the top 10 in the GLVC – and a staff-high 29 strikeouts after matching his career high with seven in Saturday's win over Quincy.
Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East) has a 5.35 mark and
Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville) has struck out 26 in 35 2/3 innings.
Matt Lamb (Doniphan, NE/Grand Island), who picked up a win in relief Sunday, leads the Miner staff with three wins.
Rockhurst won three of four at Maryville last weekend to return to the .500 mark in conference play and has been paced by a pitching staff that ranks third in the GLVC with a 4.22 earned run average. Michael Lydon-Lorson is 5-1 on the year with a 2.59 ERA, the fourth-best mark in the conference, while Henry Weiler is 3-1 with a 3.78 earned run average. Lydon-Lorson has also fanned 38 hitters and Joe Huber has recorded 32 strikeouts.
Weiler, who also plays first base and serves as the Hawks' designated hitter, leads the team in hitting with a .362 average while shortstop Brett Marr has a .333 mark and Alex Van Pelt is hitting .319. Weiler and Seth Soto are tied for the team lead in runs batted in with 20 apiece.
Rockhurst won three of the five meetings with the Miners a year ago, as the teams split a four-game series in Rolla before the Hawks beat the Miners 15-7 on the second day of the GLVC Tournament.
