LEBANON, Ill. - McKendree University baseball (5-13) begins its Great lakes Valley Conference season with a road trip to Springfield, Missouri to take on No.24 Drury (15-5, 0-0) at US. Baseball Park (Ozark, Missouri). McKendree enters the league season after going 1-3 against Grand Valley State at Hypes Field on March 19-20 to close out its home non-conference schedule. The Bearcats take on one of two ranked GLVC programs in the Panthers as UIS (No.25) is the only other league team to earn a top-25 spot this week.
McKendree most recently took on the Lakers to end its non-conference home slate, going 1-3 versus GVSU, taking game one in the Sunday, March 20, double-header. The Bearcats snapped a six-game losing streak with its 9-7 win in game three over the Lakers, holding on behind a save from graduate pitcher
Lucas Vallandingham. In the country, McKendree ranks sixth in homers per game at 1.94 and 21st in total homers on the year with 35 in 18 games. Individually, graduate catcher
Mason Hale has blasted six homers in the spring to rank 27th nationally with 0.40 per game.
At the plate, the Bearcats are led by senior outfielder
Corey Price and freshman infielder
Gavin Arseneau. Price, who has started all 18 contests, is hitting .427 with an OPS of 1.162 in 75 plate appearances. The outfielder has amassed 12 extra-base hits with six doubles, four homers, and two triples while also scoring 20 runs and bringing in 14. Arseneau has hit at a clip of .387 with an OPS of 1.118 in 16 games this spring with 24 hits, four doubles, and five homeruns. On the mound, sophomore hurler
Mark Branz leads the team with a 2-0 record in 12.2 innings pitched with a dozen strikeouts and one save. Junior
Garrett Herring has the team lead in strikeouts with 20 on the season while sophomore
Ryan Drayer,
Owen Gross, and Branz all have held opposing lineups to sub-.300 batting averages.
SCOUTING THE HOST
Drury enters the weekend ranked 24th in the country with a 15-5 record but dropped its last outing against GLVC-foe Southern Indiana in a non-conference bout. The Panthers began the year 10-0 with series sweeps of Fort Hays State (4-0), Winona State (3-0), and UW-Parkside (3-0) but dropped its series-opener to Missouri S&T on March 4. Its latest series came against USI on March 19-20, which they won two games to one.
The Panthers are led at the plate by Aaron Mann, who is hitting .472 with an OPS of 1.344. Mann has amassed 28 RBIs in 72 at-bats with 12 extra-base hits. On the mound, Drury's Mason Meeks is the leader with a 3-0 record with 39.1 innings pitched. Meeks has struck out 30 batters with a 5.03 ERA and a WHIP of 1.30.
WEEKEND SLATE | #GLVCbase Opener
Game 1 | Friday, March 25 | 5 P.M. | @ Drury | U.S. Baseball Park | Ozark, Missouri
Game 2
(DH - Game 1) | Saturday, March 26 | 12 P.M. | @ Drury | U.S. Baseball Park | Ozark, Missouri
Game 3
(DH - Game 2) | Saturday, March 26 | 3 P.M. | @ Drury | U.S. Baseball Park | Ozark, Missouri
Game 4 | Sunday, March 27 | 12 P.M. | @ Drury | U.S. Baseball Park | Ozark, Missouri
