THIS WEEK IN GRIFFON BASEBALL
Wednesday, May 3 – 5 p.m.
Missouri Western vs
Drury (30-15, 16-8 GLVC) |
Live Stats
MIAA Standings |
NCAA Regional and National Polls
ST. JOSEPH – After Tuesday's game at Rockhurst was canceled, Griffon Baseball was left with just one remaining regular season game, a non-conference home tilt against Drury on Wednesday.
The MIAA portion of Griffon Baseball's schedule concluded last week, but the team's regular season features one more game before the team heads to Joplin, Missouri for the MIAA Baseball Championships.
WHERE THEY'RE AT
The Griffons enter the week with their spot and seed in the MIAA Baseball Championships secured. Missouri Western will finish the regular season alone in second place in the conference and will be the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament to be held in Joplin at Missouri Southern's Warren Turner Field. Emporia State clinched the MIAA regular season championship when the Griffons swept Central Missouri last week, and will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Only two other teams have clinched their spots in the field and the remaining seeds are up for grabs with every other MIAA team having at least three conference games remaining on their schedules. The Griffons were also ranked No. 8 in the first edition of this year's NCAA Central Region poll. The top-eight teams in the poll at the end of the season make the regional field.
HOT AT THE RIGHT TIME
Missouri Western enters the week having won 12 of its last 13 games, which included a nine-game winning streak and the program's first-ever three-game series sweep of Central Missouri. During that 13-game stretch, the Griffons have out-batted opponents .308 to .251, and out-scored the opposition 114-51. The pitching staff had a 3.65 ERA over those 13 games compared to the opposition's 8.08 ERA. Griffon pitchers struck out 97 batters while Missouri Western hitters stuck out 76 times. Freshman
Dusty Stroup led the Griffons during their 13-game run with a .404 batting average.
Levi Schreiner used a hot streak last week to raise his average to .396 over the last 13 games.
David Glaude had a team-high 20 RBIs during the stretch with four doubles, four home runs and a triple.
Nick Gawley hit eight doubles during the run and was a perfect 11 for 11 in stolen base attempts.
OPPONENT AT A GLANCE
Drury is battling for regional competition as well, coming in at No. 9 in the first Midwest Region poll last week. The Panthers are 30-15 overall and 16-8 in GLVC play. Drury went 4-3 against MIAA competition this season, splitting a four-game series with Washburn to open the season; splitting two games with Southwest Baptist and defeating Central Missouri in a single game. Drury has hit .323 as a team with a 5.01 team ERA. Ryan Colombo leads the team with a .416 batting average. Colombo is also 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA as a pitcher for Drury. Shane Benes has hit 12 home runs for the Panthers and leads the team with 43 RBIs.
