ROLLA, Mo. – After gaining a share of the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season title, Missouri S&T's baseball team will now set its sights on winning the conference tournament for the first time this weekend as it takes part in the GLVC Baseball Championships in Ozark, Mo.

The Miners, 30-15 on the season, will open play in the tournament Thursday when they face Southern Indiana at 12:30 p.m. at US Baseball Park.  S&T garnered the third seed in the event after ending up in a three-way tie with Quincy and Maryville – who are the top and second seeds, respectively – and will face the sixth-seeded Screaming Eagles who finished just a game behind it in the standings at 21-12 in GLVC play.

Besides seeking to win its first conference tournament title, the Miners are also seeking to remain in the mix to earn a berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament.  While the tournament winner will get an automatic bid to next week's regional tournament, the Miners are also in a position to get an at-large bid as they are ranked eighth this week; their opponent on Thursday, Southern Indiana, is ninth in this week's rankings.

S&T got its share of the regular season title in part by sweeping a three-game series from Rockhurst last weekend, outscoring the Hawks 34-9 in the three-game set.  Luke Marcheschi (Bloomington, IL/Central Catholic) picked up his eighth win of the season in game one and Dalton Erger (Imperial, MO/Seckman) got his seventh with seven shutout innings in the second game of the serie, then the Miners used a 10-run eighth inning to come from behind on Saturday to complete the sweep.

Erger has the GLVC's fourth-best earned run average of 2.88 coming into the tournament, while Marcheschi has an ERA of 3.72.  Brenden Garza (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South) has a 3.70 ERA to go with a 4-0 record, while Stuart Martin (Ajax, ON/Ajax) gave S&T five strong innings of relief to keep the Miners in the contest prior to the eighth inning rally on Saturday.  Martin has a 0.91 earned run average following his effort on Saturday.

Third baseman Matt Gruse (Neenah, WI/Neenah) leads the Miners in hitting with a .337 average while rightfielder Matt Knickerbocker (Bayfield, CO/Bayfield), this week's GLVC "Player of the Week" is batting .327 as is first baseman Tim Lira (Granger, IN/Penn), the Miner leader in home runs with seven and runs batted in with 32.  Knickerbocker has driven in 30 after recording nine in the Rockhurst series, while second baseman Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) has brought home 29 runs.

USI, who brings a 29-19 record into Thursday's game, is led at the plate by Tyler McNew with a  .348 average, nine home runs and 44 runs batted in that has him tied with Nathan Kuester for the team lead.  McNew's nine homers are second to the 10 hit by Aaron Euler, while Manny Lopez is batting .333 on the year and Ethan Hunter checks in with a .323 mark.

The Miners faced USI starting pitchers Austin Gossman, Austin Krizan and Chase Partain when the teams met in a three-game series in Evansville earlier this season, with Krizan holding S&T to five hits and striking out eight in the middle game of the series that was the only one of the three in which the Screaming Eagles came away victorious.

Gossman has USI's top earned run average of 3.99 and has a 5-1 record on the season while Krizan, who has made 12 starts this year, is 5-2 with a 4.97 ERA and a team-high 71 strikeouts.

The Miners will play either Maryville or Bellarmine on Friday as the double elimination tournament will conclude Sunday afternoon.  The other first round matchups have top-seeded Quincy taking on Lewis and Illinois Springfield facing Drury in the four-five game.

NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Rankings (May 8, 2019)
1. Ashland, Ohio (37-10)
2. Wayne State, Mich. (31-13)
3. Illinois Springfield (33-13-1)
4. Northwood, Mich. (31-16)
5. Quincy, Ill. (30-16)
6. Drury, Mo. (29-21)
7. Malone, Ohio (32-15)
8. Missouri S&T (30-15)
9. Southern Indiana (29-19)
10. Indianapolis (31-20)
Records are through May 5.