ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team will open a stretch in which it will play eight home contests over a span of nine games beginning on Saturday, as it opens a four-game series against Augustana at the S&T Ballpark.
The Miners and Vikings will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., then play another twinbill Sunday that will get underway at noon. Following a road game at Missouri Southern on March 7, S&T will play another Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference team – Upper Iowa – in a four-game set in Rolla on March 10 and 11.
Missouri S&T enters the weekend with a 3-3 record after taking two of its three games last week at the Dunn Hospitality Classic at Southern Indiana. The Miners knocked off Midwest Region foes Grand Valley State and Hillsdale before letting a late lead slip away in a loss to USI to close the weekend.
Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) leads the Miners in hitting with a .579 through the first six games of the campaign, while
Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) is hitting .556. Outfielder
Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles) checks in with a .304 average and has the Miners' only home run of the season, which he hit in the win over Grand Valley State.
Burk, Swindle and
Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) have all driven in four runs apiece to lead S&T.
On the mound,
Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) has a 0.90 earned run average and has struck out a team-high 12 hitters in 10 innings of work, while
Anthony Garza (Belleviille, IL/Belleville East) has thrown 11 1/3 innings and has a 1.59 earned run average. The Miners also got a strong relief appearance from
Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) in the Grand Valley State contest, as he threw 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts to settle matters down after the two teams had combined for 14 runs in the first three innings.
Augustana is undefeated at 5-0 on the year as it comes to town, owning four wins over Hawai'i Hilo and a victory at Adams State. The Vikings have not played since winning the Adams State contest on Feb. 10.
Riley Johnson is hitting .538 to lead the Vikings at the plate, while JT Mix and Aiden Ladd are both at .444 on the year. Sam Baier has belted two of Augustana's three home runs and has already driven in 12 runs, including five in the win over Adams State.
The Viking pitching staff has recorded a 3.77 earned run average over the first five games, with David Flattery throwing five innings without allowing an earned run and striking out six in his lone start.
