ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team returns to its home park this weekend as it looks to get back on the winning track, as the Miners host Drury in a four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series at the S&T Ballpark.

The Miners and Panthers will square off in a doubleheader Friday at 1 p.m., then will play single games on Saturday and Sunday at noon; the schedule change came about due to the probability of rain coming into the area on Friday into Saturday.  S&T enters the series at 8-12 overall and 4-8 in the GLVC and is looking to halt a six-game losing streak, while the Panthers come in at 8-11 overall and 8-8 in conference play following a 9-8 loss Tuesday to Missouri State as the Bears hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

S&T is paced at the plate by Michael Ward (Hazelwood, MO/Hazelwood West), who owns a .415 batting average and is third in the GLVC with an .849 slugging percentage with five home runs and 13 extra base hits among his 22 hits on the season.  Ward is also second on the team with 15 runs batted in, trailing only Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) in that department as he has knocked in 17.
 

UPDATED FAN POLICY (BASEBALL)

Missouri S&T has amended its spectator policy for baseball games held on campus, effective beginning with this weekend's series against Drury.  Missouri S&T baseball student-athletes can each have two guests at each of the remaining home games on the schedule (the Miners also have a home series from April 30-May 2 against Southwest Baptist).  Fans will continue to check in at the gate between the Miner Dome and intramural field north of the S&T Ballpark and will be subject to temperature checks and COVID screening at the gate. In addition, all spectators will continue to be required to wear face coverings and observe social distancing in the facility.  The seating area for baseball games will continue to be on the hillside along the first base line. Spectators of visiting teams will not be permitted during the spring 2021 season due to the inability to offer spectator seating at the venue that follows social distancing guidelines for COVID-19.

Will Hayes (Terre Haute, IN/South Vigo) is batting .387 on the year and is tied for second in the GLVC with 12 stolen bases, while Weiner is hitting .375 in 32 at-bats and Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) has a .345 mark at the plate.

Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) leads the Miner starting rotation with a 2-1 record and 4.50 earned run average; he has struck out 30 hitters in 32 innings this season.  Rian Markes (Columbia, MO/Father Tolton) has made five starts and has struck out 22 in 24 innings as the S&T pitching staff has recorded 144 strikeouts in the first 20 games of the season.

Prior to its game with Missouri State on Tuesday, the Panthers split a four-game series over the weekend at Rockhurst that included a game they won 27-12 on Friday.  Drury scored 10 runs in the first inning and seven more in the second, getting a pair of three-run homers in the inning off the bats of Carson Shaver and Aaron Mann.

Mann leads the Panthers with a .400 batting average and has driven in a team-high 26 runs, while Clayton Engel has driven in 23 to go with a .348 batting mark.  Brant Schaffitzel, who had three hits and drove in three on Tuesday, is hitting .377 on the season and DJ McNew hit his team-leading seventh home run on Tuesday.

Drury is hitting .320 as a team, the third-best mark in the GLVC and is averaging eight runs per game entering this weekend's set.  The pitching staff has recorded a team earned run average of 5.92, but has held its opponents to just a .258 batting average that ranks fourth in the conference.

Kaleb Schmidt is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA and a staff-best 26 strikeouts on the season, while Mason Meeks has a 3.00 ERA and has fanned 27 in 24 innings of work out of the bullpen.