ROLLA, Mo. – In the midst of a tight race in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division, Missouri S&T's baseball team will look to keep itself squarely in the playoff hunt as it takes on division leader Drury in a home-and-home four-game series in the upcoming weekend.

The Miners and Panthers will play a doubleheader Saturday at noon at U.S. Ballpark In Ozark, Mo., then bring the series to Rolla on Monday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader at the S&T Ballpark.

Missouri S&T enters the series with a three-game winning streak, as it captured the final two games of the series with William Jewell last weekend and followed it up with a 5-4 victory Tuesday over 12^th-ranked Central Missouri.  The win over the Mules brought the Miners back to the .500 mark for the first time since late February and S&T will take a 6-6 GLVC mark into play on Saturday.

The Miners, who are currently tied with William Jewell and Missouri-St. Louis for fourth place in the division standings, own the fourth-best batting average in the GLVC at .305 and have several regulars hitting over .300 on the season.  Conner Forsythe (Farmington, MO/Farmington) and Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) – who combined to hit the Miners' first back-to-back homers in a game in nearly eight seasons on Tuesday – top the list as Forsythe is hitting .421 on the year and Lira is at .414, putting them second and third, respectively, in the conference in hitting.

Shortstop Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) is also tied for fifth in the GLVC in hitting with a .400 mark on the season and owns the league's second-best on-base percentage at .520.  Meanwhile, third baseman Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah) has a .358 average and Lucas Swindle (Weldon Spring, MO/Lutheran-St. Charles) is hitting .327 and leads the Miners with 22 runs batted in.

On the mound, Dan Borek (Greenville, WI/Hortonville) leads the starting rotation with a 4-4 record and 3.43 earned run average after firing a one-hit shutout Sunday against William Jewell, which earned him the GLVC's pitcher of the week award.  Borek has struck out 22 hitters in 44 2/3 innings and has held opponents to a .241 average on the year, the best mark among the starters.

Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) is 2-1 with a 4.75 ERA heading into the weekend, while Trent Green (Perryville, MO/Perryville) has a 4.96 ERA on the season.

After a slow start to its season, Drury has caught fire since the beginning of the GLVC campaign as it has rattled off nine straight wins, including a four-game sweep over Rockhurst to take a two-game lead in the GLVC West race. 

The Panthers, 19-10 overall and 10-2 in the GLVC, have scored the third-highest number of runs in the conference with 233 as Brant Schaffitzel is hitting .400 on the year and is tied with Burk at fifth in the league's hitting race.

Colin Garner comes into the weekend with a .394 mark, while Ethan Owens is batting .351 and Ryan Kayhill has a .341 mark and a team-high 26 runs batted in.  Kayhill has also hit a team-high three home runs as has Drew Newson.

Austin Simms, who has thrown the second-highest number of innings in the GLVC at 53 2/3, paces the Drury pitching staff with a 2.68 earned run average and has five wins on the hill while Tom Tewes, who recently moved into the Panthers' starting rotation, has a 3.45 ERA.