ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team completes its nine-game homestand this week, beginning with a matchup of two teams tied for first place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Wednesday afternoon at the S&T Ballpark.

The Miners, who are 12-5 on the season, will open the week with a doubleheader against Maryville – who is tied with the Miners and Quincy atop the GLVC standings at 5-1 – before S&T takes on Lewis in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday.  The contests are set for noon starts on all three days.

S&T put itself into the first place tie after sweeping a three-game series from Truman State over the weekend, as it outscored the Bulldogs 23-3 in the three contests to extend its overall winning streak to five games.  The series saw pitcher Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) become the first five-game winner in the GLVC as he kept his earned run average at the top of the conference at 1.03, while Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) fired a complete game, five-hit shutout to earn the GLVC's "Pitcher of the Week" award.

The Miners currently own the GLVC's third-lowest earned run average of 3.45, while also ranking third in the league in hitting with a .296 average.  S&T has averaged 7.1 runs per game through the first 17 games of the campaign.

Third baseman Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah) leads the Miners with a .388 batting average, while Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) is hitting .357 and Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) – who has batted over .500 during the Miners' current five-game winning streak – is hitting .354 with a team-high eight stolen bases.  Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) leads S&T with three home runs and 14 runs batted in.

Maryville is also on a five-game winning streak and swept a three-game series from William Jewell over the weekend to improve to 8-10 overall.  The Saints, who dropped 10 of their first 13 games of the year, have outscored their opponents 46-17 over their last five contests.

Dominic Connolly leads the Saints with a .339 batting average, while Cody Klotz is hitting .333 with a team-high four home runs.  Daniel Covert is also hitting .333 on the year and Louis Niemerg has a team-high 21 runs batted in.

Niemerg and Cosy Siebenberger have made five starts apiece on the mound for Maryville, where Siebenberger has a 3.82 ERA and Niemerg owns a 4.78 mark.  Cody Creed leads the staff with 29 strikeouts.

Lewis, meanwhile, enters its Wednesday doubleheader with Indianapolis on a five-game skid, following, losing a single game to Maryville last week prior to being swept in its three-game series at Southern Indiana.  The Flyers are 7-9 overall and 2-4 in the GLVC entering play this week.

Brandon Post leads Lewis at the plate with a .424 average, which ranks just outside the top five in the GLVC, while Ryan Schefske is hitting .339 with a team-high 13 runs batted in.  The Flyers have hit just four home runs in their first 16 games, tied for the second-fewest of any team in the GLVC.

The Lewis pitching staff is headed by Robert Talarico, whose 1.42 ERA out of the bullpen ranks fourth in the conference.  The top Flyer starter has been Pete Hamot, who is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA and a staff-best 24 strikeouts in 22 innings of work.  Blake Marks has 23 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings this season, while Brad Littleton has fanned 22 hitters in 24 2/3 innings.

This weekend's series marks the first matchups between the Miners and Flyers since 2012.