ROLLA, Mo. – Coming off one of the best offensive performances of the season Sunday to gain a Great Lakes Valley Conference split with Indianapolis, the Missouri S&T baseball team's upcoming schedule for the week will have a little different tune to it with five non-conference games coming up, beginning Tuesday at the Ballpark at S&T against Maryville followed by a trip north to take on Parkside.
 
The Miners (16-14, 5-7 GLVC Blue) erupted for 29 runs in Sunday's doubleheader, sweeping the Greyhounds so split their first conference road series of the season. Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North)
 
Ben Belgrave (Cary, IL/Cary-Grove) (1-1) turned in his best outing of the season on the mound in game one Sunday, working 6 1/3 scoreless innings of relief while striking out five and scattering five hits. The McHenry County College transfer now sports a 6.75 ERA and has struck out 17 in 17 1/3 innings this season. Cade Meier (Dakota, IL/Dakota) (3-1) took a no-decision Saturday in his start and despite being charged with six earned runs in his fifth start of the season, he only allowed two runs in his first six innings of work. Dylan Mollett (St. Louis, MO/Oakville) (3-1) took also took a no-decision over the weekend and enters the week with a 4.70 ERA and a team-high 34 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings. Freshman Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) (1-1) worked six strong innings in his longest outing of the season in Friday's opener and ranks second on the staff with 25 strikeouts and 29 2/3 innings of work. Elijah Gross (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West) (2-1, SV, 4.64 ERA, 21.1 IP, 19 K) has held opponents to a .187 batting average this season while Jacob Cook (Chicago, IL/Minooka Community) has allowed two earned runs in his last four relief appearances, striking out six in 6 1/3 innings of work.
 
The Saints (17-15, 7-5 GLVC Green) are riding high after taking three of four from Lindenwood over the weekend, winning the final three games of the series after dropping the opener. Joey Polak continues to be one of MU's offensive leaders, batting .360 with six doubles, nine home runs and 29 RBI. Close behind is Alex Hoff at .359 with nine doubles, a triple, seven home runs and 20 RBI. Elias Stevens checks in at .321 with eight home runs and leads the team with 32 RBI, while Andy Bunton, the team leader in steals with 12 in 13 attempts, is hitting .314.
 
The Miners are likely to see some of the same arms Tuesday they did in the first match of the season, as the Maryville bullen is led by Ben Prywitch who owns a 3-0 record with a save and sports a 0.92 ERA in 11 appearances with 24 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings. Phillip Reinhart has made a team-high 13 appearances and struck out 18 in 20 1/3 innings and holds a 4.87 ERA, while the only other Saint with double-digit appearances, Nolan Miller, is 3-1 in 11 games with a 7.46 ERA and has struck out 27 in 25 1/3 innings. Drake Downing is 1-0 in eight games and has worked 14 innings to post a 3.21 ERA while Noah Arras (1-3, 5.49 ERA, 14 K, 19.2 IP) and Jamie Young (1-1, 6.30 ERA, 21 K, 20 IP) also figure into the mix Tuesday.
 
The Rangers (2-22, 1-9 GLIAC) have dropped their last eight games and are coming off getting swept in a four-game series by Davenport that wrapped up on Monday. Against the Panthers, Parkside was outscored 65-15.
 
Hunter Weddel is the team's leading hitter and checks in with a .360 average and has scored a team-leading 15 times. Dominic Esposito is the clubhouse leader with three home runs and 17 RBI this season and is batting .236. Ryan Brouch (.254 AVG, 4 2B. HR, 11 RBI) and Kurt Mlachnik (.233 AVG, 2 2B, 3B, 10 RBI) are the only other players on roster with double-digit runs batted in while Caleb Badgley (.235 AVG, 2B, HR, 5 RBI) leads the team with five stolen bases. As a team, Parkside is hitting .223.
 
On the mound, the Rangers' weekend rotation is led by Nicholas Schouten who is 0-5 on the season with an 8.72 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts and innings pitched with 23 in 32 innings of work. Caden Bronkhorst sports a 1-3 record with a 10.25 ERA in six starts and struck out 20 in 26 1/3 innings but also issued a team-leading 28 walks. Those two are the only members of the pitching staff with more than 20 innings of work this season as six different players have started games on the mound this season. In relief, Sean Sodano has a made a team-leading eight appearances and struck out nine in 15 innings to post a 5.40 ERA. Alex Sanders is right behind with seven appearances for 13 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and 10 walks. Parkside enters the weekend with a 12.47 team earned run average and has issued 150 free passes in 178 1/3 innings as a team.
 
Maryville took the first matchup of the season with Miners way back on March 9 with a walk-off win in 10 innings by a score of 7-6. Meanwhile, S&T's meeting with Parkside will be the first time since 2019 the two teams have played and the first time in Kenosha since the 2012 season. S&T has won the last four meetings dating back to 2015 and the two games played at Parkside. All-time, the series is even at 12-12.