ROLLA, Mo. – Back in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament for the sixth time in seven years, Missouri S&T will look to land the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament this week when it takes part in the event beginning Thursday at U.S. Ballpark in Ozark, Mo.
The Miners, who will come into the tournament as the third seed from the GLVC West Division, will face the GLVC East's second seed, Bellarmine, in the opening round Thursday at 12:30 p.m. S&T will play again on Friday against either Drury or Saint Joseph's and a win on either of the two days will extend the Miners' stay in Ozark until at least Saturday.
Missouri S&T comes into Thursday's contest at 26-21 on the year and finished 16-12 in the GLVC. The Miners extended their winning streak to a season-high eight games following a 3-2 win in their opening game of their weekend series with Maryville, but dropped the final three contests and will look to get back on track against a Bellarmine team that won 11 of its final 13 games to close the regular season.
The Miners enter the tournament sporting a .291 team batting average and have six regulars hitting better than .300 on the year, led by third baseman
Adam Richter (Breese, IL/Mater Dei) with a .383 average that ranks ninth in the league and a team-high 44 runs batted in. Centerfielder
Eli Miller (Shelbyville, IL/Shelbyville) owns a .371 mark and sits first in the GLVC with 22 stolen bases and second with five triples for a team that is second in NCAA Division II with 26.
Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) brings a .327 mark into the tournament, while
Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) and
Zach Bracken (Berthoud, CO/Berthoud) are each hitting .310 and the Miners' top power source this year,
Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles), owns a .308 mark at the plate. Swindle has a team-high five home runs – S&T has 12 as a squad – and has driven in 35 runs.
S&T has a pair of five-game winners on the mound in
Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville) and
Matt Lamb (Doniphan, NE/Grand Island), both of whom own 5-2 records on the season; Lamb has the Miners' top earned run average of 3.93 in 34 1/3 innings.
Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East) has a 4.48 ERA to go with his 4-3 record and a staff-best four complete games, while
Trent Green (Perryville, MO/Perryville) leads S&T with 45 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings.
The Knights split a four-game set at Wisconsin-Parkside to close the regular season after entering the series with a season-high nine-game winning streak, but were shut out in both of the losses. Bellarmine is hitting .305 as a team and is paced by rightfielder Zac Wiley, who is seventh in the GLVC with a .388 average and owns the league's third-best on-base percentage mark at .470.
Designated hitter Brady Pfaadt is batting .364 on the year and has combined with Wiley to belt 15 of the team's 27 home runs this season. Meanwhile, shortstop Drew Greenwood has a .357 average and Alex Phillips, who pitches and plays in the outfield for the Knights, has a .351 average and has knocked in 33 runs.
On the mound, the Knights own some of the league's best starting pitching led by Eddie Mathis, who is 8-3 with a 2.81 ERA in 86 1/3 innings and Hunter Spencer, last year's GLVC pitcher of the year, who is 7-4 with a 3.10 ERA and leads the Knight staff with 67 strikeouts in 81 1/3 innings. Phillips is also undefeated in five decisions on the hill with a 4.77 ERA.
Bellarmine enters the tournament at 33-17 overall and finished 20-8 in the GLVC East. The Knights were ranked third in last week's NCAA Division II regional rankings, while the Miners were 10
th; the new regional rankings will be released on Wednesday.
The other first round contests, besides the Drury-Saint Joseph's game that will follow S&T's contest on Thursday, will feature Quincy against Illinois Springfield and William Jewell against Southern Indiana, the top seed from GLVC East in a rematch of a first round game from last season. The two teams that played in last year's championship game, Indianapolis and Rockhurst, did not make this year's tournament field.
