Drury Baseball, needing wins to have a shot at repeating as Great Lakes Valley Conference champions, will start its late push at home this weekend when the Panthers play host to Rockhurst in doubleheaders on Saturday (3 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) at Meador Park.

It will be "Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day" on Saturday, with Reiss Kaderly (daughter of Roy and Sara Kaderly and grandaughter of former DU Baseball coach Mark Stratton) throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before Game One at approximately 2:50 p.m. Reiss is a CHD survivor, and proceeds both from the admission gate on Saturday and from the sale of Andy's Frozen Custard cups (minimum $3 donation) will benefit CHD Awareness through the American Heart Association.

Sunday's doubleheader will be kicked off by the annual "Senior Day" festivities at around 12:30 p.m. as the team will honor its eight senior players in ceremonies before the 1 p.m. first pitch. Sunday's second game will be televised on a tape-delay basis by Mediacom Connections 22.

It's a pivotal weekend for the Panthers if they hope to entertain visions of repeating the GLVC championship they captured last May in Evansville, Ind. Drury is 19-20-1 overall and 13-14-1 in the GLVC, sitting in sixth place in the West standings and 11th overall, but just percentage points behind Nos. 9 and 10 Southern Indiana and Bellarmine from the East (both 14-15). The top eight teams at the end of next weekend's final GLVC regular season games will advance to the GLVC Championship tournament in the Indianapolis area May 7-10.

Rockhurst is 18-23 overall and 10-16 in the league, one spot behind the Panthers in the West. Drury will close the GLVC regular season next weekend with a four-game set at William Jewell - currently tied with Quincy atop the West standings at 19-9 - in Liberty. 

The mission is simple: Win as many games this weekend and next and see how it all shakes down. Taking care of business at home against Rockhurst would be a necessary start.

Coach Scott Nasby's Panthers are coming off an 8-7 victory over Arkansas Tech in a non-conference game on Wednesday at Meador, which followed a series at Quincy in which DU dropped three of four games to the Hawks and scored a combined 11 runs over 32 innings for the weekend.

The Panthers are hitting .289 as a team, allowing opponents to bat .309. Senior first baseman Luke Tewes leads the regulars with his .381 batting average to go with team highs of nine homers and 32 runs batted in, while senior outfielder Dallas Williams is hitting .361 with eight homers and 27 RBIs and and senior catcher Tyler Arthur is batting .302 with six homers and 26 RBIs.

Freshman reliever Nick Costantino has a 1.99 ERA in 19 appearances and senior closer Gage Jacobs has a 2.42 ERA and 10 saves to lead the DU bullpen, which has helped the staff accumulate an ERA of 4.83 (to 4.84 by the opponents). Senior right-hander Austin Faulconer (3-5, 4.36) will be attempting to win his 25th career game this weekend and become the Panthers' career leader in pitching victories, pulling out of a current tie with Will Landsheft (24 from 2011-14).

Rockhurst is batting .289 as a team and has a pitching staff ERA of 4.95. The Hawks won Central Missouri 11-10 on Tuesday after splitting a doubleheader at home with UMSL over the weekend, as rain washed out the other scheduled two games. Caleb Baker (.371, 29 RBIs), Brett Marr (.370, 4 HRs, 32 RBIs, 12 SBs) are the Hawks' top offensive players. Matt Stacks, a senior infielder and former Panther, is batting .256 with a team-high five homers and 30 RBIs.

All games this weekend can be viewed in a free, live webcast at www.drurypanthers.com/watch (technology-permitting).

Drury will close out its home schedule with a doubleheader Tuesday vs. Arkansas-Fort Smith at Meador (2:30 p.m.).