ROLLA, Mo. - The Missouri S&T baseball team will begin its 2023 season by hosting Wayne State (Neb.) this weekend for a four-game series that will begin Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The teams will then face off Sunday in a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. and again on Monday, also at 1 p.m. at the Ballpark at S&T.  
 
The Miners return 31 players from last year's squad as head coach Todd Degraffenreid enters his 20th season at the helm. This season, S&T was picked to finish seventh in the Great Lakes Valley Conference pre-season coaches poll with 71 points after finishing 20-25 overall and 8-16 in the GLVC last season. This year in the GLVC for baseball, there will be one division for all 13 teams and the top eight will qualify for the conference tournament which will be played in May in Marion, Ill.
 
Last season, Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) led S&T in batting with a .352 batting average while recording a team-high 57 hits, nine home runs, and 40 runs batted in and returns as a senior at the shortstop position as the top returning hitter for the Miners. Garrett Weiner (Alton, IL/Marquette) finished the 2022 campaign with an average of .333 and led the S&T with 42 runs as he finished with the second-most hits with 49, while Brady Voss (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) started all 45 games in the outfield and finished third in batting with an average of .315 and second with 38 runs driven in a season ago.      
 
On the mound, Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) returns as one of the top pitchers in the starting rotation as he finished the 2022 season with a 6.43 earned run average while throwing 42 innings and recording 36 strikeouts. Dylan Mollett (St. Louis, MO/Oakville), another top arm for S&T, started nine games on the mound where he finished with a 3-3 record as he led S&T with 40 strikeouts in 37.1 innings. 
 
ABOUT WAYNE STATE:
The Wildcats will begin its 2023 season with this four-game series. Last season, Wayne State finished with an overall record of 19-26 with a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference record of 13-18, finishing three wins away from making the NSIC tournament.
 
Last season, Wayne State was led in batting by Colin Lynam with an average of .333, while leading the team with 40 runs and 54 hits as he started all 45 games last year. Adam Eggert, another top returning hitter for the Wildcats, finished the 2022 season with a team-best .336 batting average while recording a team-high six triples and 90 total bases. 
 
On the mound, the Wildcats were led by Dylan Jutze as he finished the 2022 season with a 4-2 record with four complete games and three saves; he recorded an ERA of 2.93 in 15 appearances. Another top arm in the Wildcat rotation is Jackson Shelburne, as he appeared in 12 games and ended the 2022 season with a 4-3 record and a 5.14 ERA.