ROLLA, Mo. – After enjoying the comforts of home last weekend, the Missouri S&T baseball hits the road for the final time in Great Lakes Valley Conference play this season as they will head to Lebanon, Ill. to take on the Bearcats of McKendree University.  The series will begin with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday, followed by a single game Sunday at noon.

S&T (22-13, 15-9 GLVC) swept the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis by scores of 17-7, 10-7, and 7-1 over Friday and Saturday and currently sits in a five-way tie for third in the GLVC standings with Illinois Springfield, Indianapolis, Southern Indiana and Drury.

Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah) continues to lead S&T in batting average at .351 entering play this weekend, along with a team-best 11 doubles.  Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) checks in at .340 with five doubles, a pair of triples and 14 RBI, while Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) enters with a .321 average and leads the Miners with six round trippers and 30 runs batted in.  Zach Bracken (Berthoud, CO/Berthoud) and Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) are both hitting .317 and Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) saw his average climb back north of .300 last weekend, while Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) saw his numbers jump after a productive weekend as he checks in with 20 RBI, good for second on the team.

On the mound, Brenden Garza (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) boasts a 2.77 earned run average in 39 innings of work and has posted 21 strikeouts on the campaign.  Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) leads the staff in innings pitched as he eclipsed the 60-inning mark last week and has a staff-leading 54 strikeouts to go with a 3.23 ERA to date on the season, while Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) and his seven wins come in with a 3.56 ERA and 27 strikeouts against just five base on balls across 55 2/3 innings of work.

Joe Wolf (Freeburg, IL/Freeburg), Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) and Conner Forsythe (Farmington, MO/Farmington) headline a strong bullpen for S&T as that trio owns a 1.24 ERA between them in over 36 innings of work to go with 32 strikeouts.  The rest of the bullpen has been just as strong, as S&T owns a staff ERA of 4.02.

McKendree (9-28, 6-18 GLVC) is in the midst of a 15-game losing streak, dropping both ends of a doubleheader Tuesday to Southwest Baptist by scores of 15-1 and 5-3.  The Bearcats are coming off a weekend in which they were swept by Illinois Springfield by scores of 10-0, 5-3 and 14-4. 

Bryce Emery leads the Bearcats at the dish, batting .337 with six doubles and 14 RBIs.  Drew Reich leads the team in home runs with 9 after he left the yard in each game Tuesday and in RBI with 23. Matt Klostermann is batting .295 with six extra base hits and 10 RBI, while Hayden Schaefer is batting .308 with three homeruns and 11 RBIs after he went deep in Tuesday's nightcap. 

Corey Chambliss and Andrew Aydt both check in with 20 and 19 runs batted in so far in the season, respectively. McKendree is batting .237 as a team heading into this weekend's play.

On the mound, the Bearcats are led by Ryan Vogt, who is 0-3 but has a 4.41 ERA in eight starts on the season and has a team-leading 38 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings.  Jared Timmermann leads the team in innings pitched with 42 with a 1-2 record and 5.14 ERA.  Kraig Gielow, Nick Beeler, Geoff Withers and Andrew Yancik all have at least 10 appearances, while Adam Bunnell has collected three saves this season.