PITTSBURG — The Pittsburg State University baseball team will close out the regular season this weekend when the Gorillas travel to St. Charles, Mo., for a three-game MIAA series against Lindenwood University.
Pitt State and LWU will open the series at 6 p.m. Friday (May 5) at the Lou Brock Sports Complex. The Gorillas and Lions will play again at 6 p.m. Saturday (May 6) and close out the series with a final game at Noon Sunday (May 7).
Pitt State enters the final weekend of regular season play with a 23-24 overall record and a 17-16 mark in MIAA play. The Gorillas sit in a three-way tie for sixth place in the MIAA standings, along with the University of Central Oklahoma and Missouri Southern State University.
The top eight teams in the MIAA standings qualify for the MIAA Postseason Tournament, which runs May 11-14 at Joplin, Mo.
Lindenwood enters the PSU series 28-17 overall, 21-11 in the MIAA and third in the conference standings. The Lions are 12-3 in their last 15 games.
Pitt State enters the series batting .316 as a team and scoring 7.7 runs per game. The Gorillas have a 6.33 team ERA. LWU is hitting .298 and scoring 6.6 runs per game. The Lions carry a 4.57 team ERA.
The Gorillas have five players hitting .330 or better on the season: junior second baseman Dallas Reed (.374), junior outfielder Hunter Clanin (.355), junior shortstop Colton Pogue (.354), junior catcher/designated hitter Ethan Schlesener (.353) and junior outfielder Andrew Vogelbaugh (.330).
Reed has scored a team-leading 57 runs. He has smacked 17 doubles, two triples and eight home runs and driven in 48 runs. Clanin has scored 48 runs, hit 16 doubles, three triples and eight home runs while driving in a team-leading 50 runs. Pogue has scored 50 runs, hit 17 doubles, three triples and nine home runs while driving in 47 runs.
Vogelbaugh has belted a team-leading 13 home runs and driven in a team-best 50 runs. Vogelbaugh holds Pitt State career records for home runs (37) and RBIs (148).
Junior righthander Cody Whiting (4-5, 5.16 ERA), sophomore righthander Dante Richardson (2-2, 5.80 ERA) and junior righthander Ethan Vanderpool (2-4, 6.24 ERA) are expected to start for the Gorillas in the series.
Senior righthander Ty Rowe and junior lefthander Cooper Gardner have provided quality innings of work from the Pitt State bullpen. Rowe has a 5-0 record and one save with a team-leading 2.98 ERA in 57.3 innings of work, while Gardner is 7-2 with a 5.33 ERA in 52.3 innings.
