GAME DAY LINKS --
McKENDREE vs. MISSOURI S&T
Saturday, March 5, 2016, 12 noon (DH) | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
Sunday, March 6, 2016, 12 noon | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS
MISSOURI S&T SEASON STATISTICS
(LEBANON, Ill.., March 4)--The McKendree University baseball team will open the home portion of its 2016 schedule this weekend by hosting Missouri S&T in a three-game, non-conference series. The Bearcats and Miners will square off in a doubleheader Saturday before closing the weekend with a nine-inning contest on Sunday. First pitch both days is set for noon at Hypes Field.
McKendree will have the opportunity to get familiar with its home field over the next two weeks as the Missouri S&T series kicks off a season-long 11-game home stand. All 11 contests will come against non-conference opponents, and will wrap up with a twinbill against Rockhurst University on March 20. McKendree played its first seven games of the 2016 season on the road and is in search of its first victory of the year. The Bearcats were swept in a three-game series at Missouri Southern State University to open the year before falling four times last weekend at Carson-Newman University in Tennessee. Three starters enter the weekend batting over .300 on the young season. Junior first baseman
Keith Rogers (Marshall, IL/Marshall) tops the trio with a .389 average to go along with a home run and four runs batted in. Junior outfielder
Colton Calhoun (Mt. Zion, IL/Mt. Zion) checks in at .350 with two round-trippers, while freshman infielder
Luke Johnson (Barrington, IL/Barrington) rounds out the group at .333. Calhoun and junior outfielder
Grant Anderson (Mackinaw, IL/Deer Creek-Mackinaw) share the team lead with two home runs through the first seven games.
On the mound, sophomore right-hander
Nick Yung (Smithton, IL/Freeburg) has performed solidly out of the bullpen for McKendree. In two appearances, Yung has a 1.80 earned-run average. Senior left-hander
Josh Tonozzi (Mark, IL/Putnam County), who led the Bearcats with 21 appearances in 2015, continues to be a workhorse for the team with four trips to the mound in seven games. Tonozzi has a 2.25 ERA heading into the weekend.
ABOUT MISSOURI S&TThe Miners are off to a fast start in 2016 with an 8-0 record. All eight wins have come at home for Missouri S&T, including a four-game sweep last weekend in Rolla, Mo., against Minnesota-Crookston. The Miners boast a .357 team batting average with 67 runs scored entering the weekend. Nick Ulrich leads four Missouri S&T starters who are batting over .400 with a .483 clip. Ulrich has both of the Miner's home runs and shares the team lead with nine RBI. Eli Miller is close behind at .476 and has matched Ulrich with nine runs batted in. Adam Richter (.412, six RBI) and Tyler Johnson (.406, six RBI) are the other Missouri S&T players hitting above the .400 mark.
Keith Coulson already has one complete game to his credit for Missouri S&T. In 12 innings of work, Coulson is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 11 strikeouts. Aaron Bedsworth and Dan Borek have each posting two wins to lead the Miners' staff.
McKendree and Missouri S&T were scheduled to play a three-game series last season at Hypes Field. Excessive rain in the St. Louis-metro area forced the series to be moved to Rolla, where the Miners took two out of three games against the Bearcats. McKendree won the opener 1-0 before Missouri S&T took the final two contests, 4-2 and 7-4. The Bearcats held a lead in all three games a year ago against the Miners.
WHAT'S NEXTThe Bearcats will entertain Harris-Stowe State University Tuesday at 2 p.m. before William Jewell College comes to Hypes Field for a Friday afternoon match-up. McKendree will then play single games next weekend against Robert Morris University-Chicago.
