JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.  --  The NCAA has released their first official regional rankings for Division II Baseball, with Missouri S&T ranking third in the Midwest region. The Miners are set to play the Lincoln Blue Tigers on the road for their final series of the regular season, with game one set for tomorrow at 4 p.m.
 
Regional Rankings
Rank   School                        DII Record      Region Record
1.           Grand Valley State        37-8                     32-8
2.           Wayne State (MI)          34-10                   32-10
3.           Missouri S&T                 27-15                  27-15  
4.           Illinois Springfield          30-16                  25-13
5.           Findlay                           30-15                 30-14
6.           Drury                              29-17                 26-17
7.           Ashland                          32-14                 27-12
8.           Maryville (MO)               25-20                 25-20
9.           UIndy                             27-19                 24-14
10.        Saginaw Valley               23-22                 23-21
 
About the Miners
S&T is 29-15 this season, with a 22-6 against Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opponents that has them sitting first in the GLVC standings. The Miners are one game ahead of  They have split their last two series, most recently winning the last two games in their series against Maryville.

The Miners' .318 batting average is fourth-best in the conference, led by Bricen Smith's (Perry, GA/Mount de Sales Academy) .398. Garrett Meyer's (Jacksonville, IL/Jacksonville) 54 RBIs lead the team and rank him 8th in the conference. Meanwhile, Smith and Drew Baugus (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) both rank in the top ten in the conference for stolen bases, combining for 50 this season.

Dylan Bates (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt West) continues to lead the Miners in earned run average, ranking second in the conference with a 3.97 mark. The senior ace has struck out 45 in 47.2 innings pitched, recording an 8-1 record on the mound. Logan Slinkard (Affton, MO/Lutheran South) has allowed the fewest hits out of S&T's starters, giving up just 48 and a .265 allowed batting average.
 
About the Blue Tigers
Lincoln is 6-38 this year and have yet to win their first game in conference play, going 0-28 thus far. Their most recent series came at Missouri-St. Louis last weekend, with the Blue Tigers getting shutout in three of four games.

Hunter Mitchell leads Lincoln in batting with a .392 average. Jayden Little is hitting .328 but ranks tenth in the conference for slugging percentage with a .664. Little's ten home runs are tied for the ninth most in the GLVC this season.

Jonah Claborn's 7.79 ERA is the best among the Blue Tigers' starting pitchers this year, followed by Brody Kleffner's 12.52 ERA. Lincoln's 14.04 team ERA is the worst in the conference by a wide margin and is the fourth-highest ERA in Division II.
 
What's Next
S&T is bound for the GLVC Championships next week, with round one of the tournament taking place on Wednesday, May 6th.
 
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