ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team will play its final non-conference series of the 2021 season – and do so against a fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference foe – this weekend as the Miners will take on Missouri-St. Louis in a four-game series in St. Louis.

The Miners and Tritons, who were not slated to play one another in the GLVC schedule this season, will face off in a single game Friday at 2 p.m. at the UMSL Baseball Field to open the series.   The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at noon before closing the set with a single game at noon on Sunday.

Missouri S&T opened its season by going 1-3 in a four-game weekend at Missouri Southern, losing twice to the nationally-ranked Lions and splitting two games against Missouri Western.   In the win, the Miners got a solid starting pitching effort from freshman Nate Wodka (Allen, TX/Allen), while Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) and Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg) had three hits apiece and combined to drive in six runs in that contest.

The Miners come into the UMSL series hitting .346 as a team, with Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) leading the way with a .462 average.  Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) has batted .417 on the year and shares the team lead in runs batted in with Weiner with four, while Baxmeyer is hitting .385 and Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) is at .375 on the season.

Baxmeyer and Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West), have hit the two home runs for S&T this season, with Ward producing hits in three of his four at-bats thus far.

Besides the solid first outing on the hill by Wodka, the Miners got an outstanding performance from Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) against Missouri Southern as he held the Lions to five hits over six innings and struck out seven along the way.

The Tritons opened their season last weekend by dropping two of three at home to Minnesota State, with a 3-2 win sandwiched around a pair of one-sided losses.  UMSL pulled out the one victory with a run in the bottom eighth on a walk-off RBI single by Leighton Keller.

Clayton Stephens had hits in three of his six at-bats in the series, while Bryce Kulinski is hitting .333 on the year.  The Tritons batted only .165 in the three-game series against the Mavericks.