ROLLA, Mo. – After completing a nine-game stretch away from home, Missouri S&T's baseball team will seek to get back on the winning track as it begins a quick four-game homestand in Great Lakes Valley Conference play Tuesday afternoon at the S&T Ballpark.

The Miners will host Drury in a single game beginning at 2 p.m. Tuesday, then welcome Missouri-St. Louis to Rolla for a weekend series slated for Saturday and Sunday.  S&T and UMSL are scheduled to play a noon doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday, which will also start at noon.

S&T's comes into Tuesday's game looking to end a four-game losing streak, which began with a game two loss at Drury last Wednesday.  The Miners (19-12 overall, 12-8 GLVC) are averaging 5.9 runs per game on the season, but have scored a total of just six runs during the course of their current skid.

Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah) continues to lead the Miners in hitting with a .361 average, while Jason Volkmann (Liberty, MO/Liberty) is at .322 on the year and Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield) is batting .321.  Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn) has a team-high four home runs and has driven in 24, while Cameron Burk (Nacogdoches, TX/Cushing) has 11 stolen bases and Kaleb Reid (Smithville, MO/Smithville) has added 10 to lead the way in that department.

On the mound, Brendan Garza has a 2.81 earned run average and Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) is 6-1 with a 3.04 ERA; his six wins are tied for the conference lead.  Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) has posted a 3.48 ERA and leads the staff with 51 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings of work, which ranks in the top 10 in the GLVC.  Conner Forsythe (Farmington, MO/Farmington) is tied for the league lead with four saves.

Drury is 19-17 overall and is also 12-8 in the GLVC following a sweep of its weekend series at Truman State to extend its winning streak to four games.  The Panthers have scored in double figures in all four games of their current winning streak, as they outscored Truman 36-13 in the three-game set.

Ethan Owens leads the Panthers with a .356 batting average, while Collin Fraley is hitting .346 and Aaron Mann is batting .331.  Mann and Clayton Engel have each homered four times, while Mann has a team-high 37 runs batted in as part of a lineup that has three players with more than 30 RBI.  Drury is hitting .295 as a team entering Tuesday's contest.

Fraley and Andrew Hastings got the starts on the mound for Drury in last week's doubleheader in Springfield, with Hastings blanking S&T on three hits in a complete game performance.

UMSL has struggled throughout the 2019 season – one that started with 12 straight losses – but the Tritons are coming off a series win over Rockhurst that included an 11-1 win over the Hawks on Sunday.  UMSL will host Maryville Tuesday before making the trek to Rolla for the weekend series.

The Tritons (7-24, 6-14 GLVC) are hitting only .216 as a team, led by John Hilpert's .295 average and Derrick Freeman's .293 mark.  Freeman is one of four Tritons with two home runs on the year and also leads the team in runs batted in with 21 and stolen bases with seven.

Bobby Shallenberger has been the top starting pitcher for UMSL with a 2.84 earned run average in eight appearances, while Matt Graser is the only other Triton that has made more than three starts on the mound.  Jon Mahaney leads the Triton staff with 32 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings as he has made seven of his nine appearances out of the bullpen.