ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's baseball team returns to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament for the first time in two seasons and will open play in the event Thursday when it takes on seventh-ranked Quincy at 7:30 p.m. at Mtn Dew Park in Marion, Ill.

The Miners (24-22, 15-17 GLVC), making their 10th appearance in the GLVC Championships, come into the tournament as the eighth seed and will face the league's regular season champion in their first contest Thursday night. The teams met in a four-game series in March and the Hawks (40-9, 27-5 GLVC) took three of the four contests, but S&T won the first game of the series by a count of 20-10.

In that game played on March 17 in Quincy, Cole Hampton (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) tied the school's single-game record with eight runs batted in which included a grand slam. Kyle Athmer (Albers, IL/Breese Central Community) picked up the victory on the mound for the Miners.  
 
Heading into the GLVC Championships, Hampton leads the team with a .353 batting average that includes team-highs of 11 home runs, 92 total bases and an OPS of 1.179 while Michael Hughes (St. Clair, MO/St. Clair) is hitting .345 batting average. Doug Wood (Liberty, MO/Liberty North), meanwhile, has a team-leading 54 runs batted in and Dakota Sill (Lansing, KS/Lansing) has stolen 32 bases, the second-most in the GLVC.
 
Ethan Morrow (Lenexa, KS/Shawnee Mission West) leads the pitching staff with 48.2 innings pitched also leads the group with 51 strikeouts after fanning six against Maryville in his last outing.  
 
The Hawks are making its 18th appearance in the GLVC Tournament, entering the postseason ranked seventh in the nation and as owners of a 10-game winning streak. Quincy has won 20 of its last 21 games coming into Thursday's contest.
 
Quincy is led in batting by Gino D'Alessio with a .401 batting average as he has tallied a team-high 79 hits and swiped 15 bases, while Luke Napleton is hitting .370 and leads NCAA Division II in the power categories with 26 home runs and 80 runs batted in.
 
On the mound, the Hawks are led by hurler Spencer Walker as he enters this GLVC tournament with an 8-1 record in 12 starts and is ranked third in the GLVC with a 3.12 ERA.  Walker – whose only loss of the season came at the hands of the Miners in the aforementioned March 17 contest -- has struck out 68 batters on the year.

Missouri S&T will also play on Friday against either fourth-seeded Lewis or fifth-seeded Indianapolis.  If the Miners win, they will play at 7:30 p.m., while a loss will send them to a contest beginning at 12:30 p.m. 
 
The GLVC Baseball Championships will span over four days, concluding with the championship game on Sunday.