This week's SLIAC Game of the Week is the baseball series between Greenville University and Westminster College. The two teams will meet this weekend in a three game series in Greenville, Illinois. They are scheduled for one game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday, dependent on weather.
Westminster is on a four-game winning streak, having opened up conference play with a game against Blackburn on March 19th. They face Blackburn in a mid-week doubleheader before meeting Greenville this weekend. The Blue Jays are batting .317 as a team, leading the conference, and are averaging 8.1 runs per game. They have hit 8 home runs and stolen 25 bases thus far and hold a team earned-run average of 4.97.
The Blue Jays have six starters hitting over .300 this spring including a pair over .400. Jason Pesold leads the way with his .438 average while Payton Whitehead is batting .404 with 16 RBI. Skyler Bushey, Steven Diaz, and Spencer Keiser have also reached double figures in RBI while Bushey leads the team with 4 home runs. The duo of Bode Gebbink and Derek Archer have paced the pitching staff. Gebbink is 3-1 with a team high 22 strikeouts while Archer is 1-1 with a 1.29 earned-run average.
Greenville is coming off a 15-0 win over Blackburn but had its other two games in the series postponed because of weather. The Panthers are averaging 6.3 runs per game and hitting .291 as a team. They rank third in the league with 22 stolen bases and have struck out a league low 86 times this spring. The Panthers pitching staff holds a 5.54 earned-run average, notching three shutouts already.
Landon Mokris is one of three Panthers hitting over .400 this spring, with a SLIAC leading .466 batting average. He has driven in 23 and added six doubles in his 27 hits. George Schneider is batting .413 while Snyder Pennington is hitting .407 in 16 games as a true freshman. Drew Frey is third on the team with 22 hits and leads the team with 18 runs scored. Tanner Gerdes is one of four Panthers with multiple stolen bases, leading the team with six. Luke Fleener is off to a 3-1 start on the mound with a 1.80 E.R.A. Jaxen Gibson has a SLIAC best 0.83 E.R.A. out of the bullpen while Braden Maltbie has struck out 23 batters in just 18.2 innings of work.
The Series: Greenville leads the all-time series against Westminster 45-38 and is on a three-game winning streak in the series. Westminster took the opening game of the regular season series last year before Greenville responded with two wins in the series and then knocked Westminster out of the conference tournament with a 16-14 win.