ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team will seek to solidify its position for a berth to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament this weekend as it plays its final home series of the season against Southwest Baptist at the S&T Ballpark.

The Miners and Bearcats will square off in a single game Friday starting at 2 p.m., followed by a noon doubleheader on Saturday and a single game Sunday that also begins at noon.  The six Miner seniors – Keegan Baxmeyer (Waterloo, IL/Freeburg), Brady Wildschuetz (Foristell, MO/Francis Howell), Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West), Bryce Charipar (Cedar Rapids, IA/Xavier), Rian Markes (Columbia, MO/Father Tolton) and Landon Bell (Seymour, MO/Seymour) – will be honored between the two contests on Saturday.

S&T enters Friday's contest at 16-16 overall and 12-12 in the GLVC, with wins in five of its last six games after taking three of four in last week's series at William Jewell.  The Miners captured an extra inning game to open the series, getting the game-winning hit from Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) in the 10^th inning and a diving catch by shortstop Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) to end the game, then took a 10-4 decision in Sunday's doubleheader opener before closing the series Monday with a wild 30-17 win as six school records were tied or broken in the game.

Hayes leads the Miners in hitting heading into the SBU series with a .400 average that ranks in a tie for ninth in the GLVC, while Ward is hitting .393 and leads S&T with nine home runs and the GLVC in on-base percentage at .831.  Hayes and Ward both own an OPS (on-base plus slugging) mark over 1.000 for the season, with Ward at 1.390 and Hayes – who is also third in the GLVC in stolen bases with 16 -- at 1.059.

Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) went 10-of-16 in the series at William Jewell to raise his average to .345 for the season, while Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) is hitting .338 with a team-high 33 runs batted in.  The Miners have three other regulars hitting over .300 in Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) at .333 and Wood and Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) at .314 apiece as the team is hitting .323 as a unit, a mark that ranks fourth in the conference.

Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) owns a 5.31 earned run average in 42 1/3 innings of work on the mound with a staff-leading 37 strikeouts, while Markes has fanned 33 in 39 innings.  Charipar has a 2.87 earned run average out of the bullpen and David Kephart (Overland Park, KS/Blue Valley Northwest) has two saves in a team-high 13 appearances.

Southwest Baptist brings records of 14-18 and 10-17 in the GLVC into the weekend series after dropping three of four to GLVC Green Division leader Illinois Springfield.  The one game the Bearcats got from the sixth-ranked Prairie Stars was a 4-0 shutout as Ryan Carmack blanked UIS on four hits and struck out nine in the seven-inning contest.

Carmack has a staff-leading 2.72 earned run average and is undefeated in four decisions on the hill, with 61 strikeouts in 43 innings.  Cole Van Every has a 5.29 ERA in six starts, while Dalton Morrow has a 6.98 mark in seven starts with a 4-3 record.

Zach Ehlen leads the Bearcats in hitting with a .337 average, while Rhys Cratty is hitting .331 and Josh Scott is batting .327 with five home runs to lead SBU.  Colby Sneed has a team-leading 27 runs batted in, while Cratty has knocked in 23 on the season.  Ehlen has also stolen a league-high 23 bases in 24 attempts.