ROLLA, Mo. – After rebounding from a slow start to the 2020 season to sweep a four-game series from Upper Iowa over the past weekend, Missouri S&T's baseball team will look to carry the momentum from those wins into the start of its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule this weekend when the Miners take to the road for the first time.

The Miners captured a share of the GLVC's regular season title in the 2019 campaign and did so by sweeping Rockhurst in the final weekend of the season.  The Hawks will be the first opponent for the Miners on the 2020 GLVC schedule when the teams meet in a three-game series in Kansas City, Mo., with a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday at noon and a single game on Sunday at noon.

S&T, who is 5-7 entering its conference opener, came from behind in each of the first three games of the Upper Iowa series before leading throughout the fourth contest to complete the sweep.   The Miners got strong weekends from Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) and Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West) at the plate as both hit nearly .500 in the four games.

Baxmeyer leads the Miners with a .385 average and has driven in seven runs on the season, while Ward has homered twice and raised his average to .265 on the year.  Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) leads the Miners with 10 runs batted in and five stolen bases heading into play this weekend, while Matt Miller (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) has driven in nine and is hitting .294 on the year.

The Miners got a complete game performance to open the weekend from Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota), as he blanked the Peacocks over the final five innings on three hits and struck out seven.  Meier leads the pitching staff with 16 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings of work, while Matthew Lamb (Doniphan, NE/Grand Island) has fanned 11 in 14 1/3 innings.

ABOUT ROCKHURST: The Hawks are out of the gate at 7-5 on the year after completing a trip to Florida with wins in five of the six games they played in the Sunshine State.  Rockhurst had won six games in succession before losing an 8-7 decision to Findlay to close the trip.

The Hawks are hitting .288 as a team, led by a .349 average posted by Nic Mertes and Garrett McNally.  Rockhurst has four players with more than 40 at-bats on the season over the .300 mark, as Tommy Kraus is batting .333 and Nathan Mark is hitting .326 on the young season with a team-high 14 runs batted in.

Michael Hellman has two wins on the mound for the Hawks with a 3.52 earned run average in a starting role, while Jack Eisenbager, who has also made three starts, has a 3.86 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings.