PITTSBURG — The Pittsburg State University baseball team will travel to St. Joseph, Mo., to open a three-game series against Missouri Western State University beginning Saturday (Mar. 4).
 
The Gorillas and Griffins will meet at 3 p.m. (CST) Saturday at the MWSU Baseball field and then face off at 2 p.m. Sunday (Mar. 5) and Noon Monday (Mar. 6). The series, originally scheduled to start Friday, was pushed back due to an unfavorable weather forecast tomorrow.
 
Pitt State will bring a 9-6 record into the weekend action. The Gorillas posted a 1-2 mark in their MIAA opening series against Missouri Southern State University last weekend. The Griffons are 3-7 overall and 0-3 in MIAA play. Western dropped all three games in an MIAA series to the University of Central Oklahoma last weekend and the Griffs fell, 10-5, in a non-conference contest against Washburn University Tuesday (Feb. 28).
 
The Gorillas enter the weekend series batting .324 on the young season and scoring 9.4 runs per game. Pitt State's pitching staff currently sports an 8.06 ERA and the squad has a .963 fielding percentage to date. The Gorillas opponents are hitting .285 and scoring 8.7 runs per game. The opposition has a 9.58 ERA and a .979 fielding percentage to date.
 
Junior infielder Cade Clemons leads the squad with a .391 batting average. He has six doubles, two triples, two home runs and 11 RBI to his credit. Junior catcher Nixon Brannan in hitting .327 with three doubles, four home runs and a team-leading 20 RBI. Junior outfielder Bretty Daley is batting .324 with six doubles, three home runs and 17 RBI.
 
Graduate LHP Zac Shoemaker (3-0, 1.42 ERA) and junior LHP Ben Des Rosiers (1-0, 6.50 ERA) are expected to make starts on the mound this weekend while the third slot remains TBA.