A Drury Baseball team projected as a Great Lakes Valley Conference and national contender will learn a lot more about where it stands after this weekend, when the Panthers head to Florida for five games against nationally ranked opponents.

Coach Scott Nasby's Panthers (2-2) will take on Minnesota State-Mankato on Friday (2 p.m. CST) in Auburndale, Fla., then will play two against Grand Valley State on Saturday (2:30 and 5:30 p.m.) in Leesburg, Fla., before closing out the trip against No. 19 Florida Tech on Monday (10 a.m.) in Melbourne, Fla.

Minnesota State, which opens its season today against Grand Valley, is ranked as high as No. 4 in the variety of college baseball polls. The Mavericks have made three consecutive trips to the NCAA-II College World Series - losing to eventual national champion Southern Indiana in last year's WS semifinals - and have been NCAA-II tourney qualifiers for nine consecutive years.

Grand Valley State, ranked 11th by Perfect Game, has opened its season this week in Florida and is off to a 3-0 start entering today's game with Minnesota State. The perennial GLIAC-favorite Lakers finished 39-13 last season and were eliminated in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional by the Panthers, who then lost 4-2 to Southern Indiana in the title game. 

Florida Tech, currently ranked ninth by Collegiate Baseball, is 15-0 on the year heading into a Sunshine State Conference weekend three-game series at home against Lynn before facing the Panthers on Monday. The Panthers - 25-23 last season and picked for sixth in the SSC preseason poll this spring - have three players batting above .450 through 15 games for a team that's hitting .391 and leads the nation in slugging percentage (.618)  - and holding opponents to a .205 batting average.

Drury, ranked No. 25 by D2 Baseball News, has been idle since splitting a four-game set at St. Edward's in Austin, Texas on February 20-21, having already lost six scheduled games to weather issues. Senior first baseman Luke Tewes is batting .429 with three homers and eight RBIs to lead the offense, which hit just .220 on the opening triip. 

Luke Burnidge was the top pitcher in the season's only series, with 6 1/3 shutout innings in picking up a 2-0 victory in the series finale at St. Edward's.

The Panthers are slated to open their home schedule March 14-15 with a GLVC series against Lewis at Meador Park.

Live Stats vs. Grand Valley State

Video Webcast vs. Florida Tech