ROLLA, Mo. – Coming off a four-game sweep of Southwest Baptist over an extended weekend, the Missouri S&T baseball team will be back at home once more this weekend for a four game series against Missouri-St. Louis starting Saturday at the Ballpark at S&T.
 
The Miners (7-6) found their groove in their most recent series against SBU, as they outscored the Bearcats 43-18 and scored 11 or more in the final three games of the weekend. Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) raised his average to .432 on the season behind an 8-13 weekend with three doubles, five RBI and five runs scored. He's joined above the .400 mark this season by Braden Mahurin (Dixon, MO/Dixon), who is hitting .417 with a home run and eight RBI in his seven starts this season. Andrew Branson (St. James, MO/St. James) also had a big weekend and raised his average to .310 following a 6-12 weekend at the plate. Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) blasted his first home run of the season Sunday and is batting .302 this season. Tommy Ruether (Washington, MO/Washington) is just shy of the .300 mark with a .96 batting average and has driven in nine alongside Garrett and Weiner. Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) is up to 11 RBI after a 7-15 weekend at the plate which saw him also go yard Sunday while Aaron Berkhoff (Colorado Springs, CO/Cheyenne Mountain) remains the team leader with 12 RBI.
 
On the mound, Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) turned a complete-game two-hitter in the opener Thursday in his season debut while Dylan Mollett (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) (2-0) picked up the win in game one Sunday and raised his tram leading strikeout total to 24 and sports a 4.60 ERA in 15 2/3 innings. Chasen Anderson (Moscow Mills, MO/Troy Buchanan) notched his second save of the season and has a 3.52 ERA with seven strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings of relief work. Elijah Gross (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West) (1-1) made a pair of relief appearances over the weekend and has struck out 12 in 12 2/3 innings to go with a 3.55 ERA. Freshman Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) (0-1) took a no-decision in his start in the finale Sunday, but did strikeout a season-high six and is third on the team with 11 this season.
 
The Tritons (1-7) last played March 6 and dropped a three-game series to Minnesota Duluth after picking up their first win of the season March 4 against Upper Iowa. UMSL also had another two week hiatus between their first season of the year February and their most recent action in March. Despite the long layoffs and having only played eight games, UMSL is led at the plate by Brandon Olion, who is hitting just shy of .600 at .591 with three doubles and three RBI. Matt DiMemmo is hitting .320 with three RBI as well and is tied for the team lead with six runs scored. Clayton Stephens has driven in a team-high eights runs and is hitting .318 with five doubles, while Ben Beier has gone deep twice to lead the club and has driven in six. As a team, UMSL is hitting .234 and has been outscored 83-33 by their opponents this season.
 
On the mound, Trent Anderson and Reece Kulick have led the way out of the bullpen, having worked a combined 9 2/3 innings and striking out 15 while allowing a lone unearned run between them. When it comes to the rotation, things are a little less certain as five different players have opened a game for the Tritons this season, led by Nick Torres, who has struck out a team-high 11 in 11 innings but sports a 6.55 ERA. Dylan Wobbe has the team's lone save this year and has made four relief appearances and struck out five, while Christian Thrasher earned the win over Upper Iowa, and has struck out three in 2 1/3 innings in two games. Opponents have hit the Tritons hard this year, posting a .321 average.
 
UMSL leads the all-time series 75-48 but things have been considerably one-sided over the last several season. S&T took three of four in St. Louis last year and saw a seven-game winning streak in the series end, but dating back to the 2014 season, S&T has won 22 of the last 27 meetings, including sweeps in 2015, 2017 and 2019.