Spencer Ellingson / Winonan

After the weekend off, the Winona State University men’s baseball team will head back down to St. Louis, Mo. to play four games in the Maryville Baseball Invite.

The Warriors will start Friday afternoon against the University of Maryville, who is coming off five losses in the last seven games.

The Saints managed to put up 69 runs in 11 games this year, including four home runs by senior Yoonjae Nam.

The Warriors will also play two games against Drury University and one game against No. 18 Grand Valley State University.

Winona State head coach Kyle Poock said the Lakers are a tough opponent.

“[Grand Valley from Michigan] is one of the best teams in the country,” Poock said.

The Warriors will then head down to Florida to play six games including matchups against nine-time national champion Florida Southern College and Seton Hill University coming off of their fourth straight 40-win season.

After spring break the Warriors will take a couple weekends off before finally starting NSIC play.

Sophomore outfielder Joe Kuruba said how these games play a factor heading into NSIC play.

“We need to be able to stay focused the entire game,” Kuruba said. “That is the biggest thing we need to work on in these games leading up to conference play.”

One of those key conference games is against Minnesota State University Mankato later in the season. The Mavericks finished the season last year second in the NSIC with a 30-4 record.

The Warriors lost four out of five games to the Mavericks last year and are looking to bounce back this season.

“I like to think us and Mankato have a big rivalry,” Poock said. “That goes all the way back to when I played here in the 80’s.”

The Warriors will play a two-game home series against the Mavericks in the last week of April.

After losing so many players to injury last year, Kuruba said health is the biggest key this season.

“Many things can hold us back,” Kuruba said. “Injuries however are what can really hurt us this year.”

The Warriors finished with 134 points in the NSIC preseason coaches poll, putting them in fifth place in the conference.

Poock said the team is optimistic about its season goal.

“The team goal is to win the conference championship,” Poock said. “I think it’s a very reasonable and doable goal.”

Senior Tyler Nehring said Poock has set a goal for the team: win games.

“We need to win the easy games first and find a way to win the harder ones,” Nehring said.