The third ranked Missouri Southern baseball program will be back at home this weekend as the Lions will play host to Central Oklahoma in an MIAA series at Warren Turner Field.
Southern (13-2, 7-2 MIAA) sits a game out of first place in the MIAA and is ranked third in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Division II poll and tenth in the baseball coaches poll. The Lions are coming off a series win at Missouri Western when Southern won two-of-three games.
The Lions lead the MIAA in doubles, doubles per game, ERA, hits allowed per nine innings, home runs, shutouts, strikeout to walk ratio, strikeouts per nine innings, walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP), and walks allowed per nine innings. Southern ranks seventh nationally in shutouts, while ranking eighth in ERA, ninth in both strikeout to walk ratio and home runs and 10th in doubles and walks allowed per nine innings. The Lions rank 12th in WHIP and 19th in strikeouts per nine innings.
Will Bausinger leads the MIAA in complete games, while ranking second in strikeouts. Zach Parish leads the league in strikeouts, while Zac Shoemaker is third. Troy Gagan leads the MIAA in home runs and total bases, while Bausinger, Parish and Shoemaker leads the MIAA in games started. Tommy Stevenson is second in the MIAA in doubles. Cole Woods leads the MIAA in saves, while Parish is second in ERA.
Parish leads Division II in wins, while ranking fourth nationally in strikeouts. Bausinger and Shoemaker rank 8th and 16th in strikeouts, while Gagan ranks 12th in home runs and 20th in total bases.
This season, Gagan leads the Lions with a .362 batting average, six home runs and 16 RBIs. Jordan Fitzpatrick (.321) and Henry Kusiak (.302) are both hitting over .300 while Kusiak has ten RBIs and Dexter Swims has driven in 11 of his own. The Lions are hitting .264 as a team this season.
Parish is 4-0 this year with 44 strikeouts in 31 innings, while Bausinger is 3-1 with 41 k’s in 32 innings. Shoemaker is 3-1 with 35 k’s in 27 innings, while Woods has three saves and Chase Beiter has two.
UCO (7-4, 4-2 MIAA) comes into the series after a midweek win at home over Oklahoma Christian. The Bronchos took two-of-three from both Fort Hays State and Emporia State this year in MIAA play. Ryan Harrell leads the offensive attack for the Bronchos with a .400 batting average, while Kyle Crowl has a team-high three home runs and Garrett Takamatsu has 12 RBIs. Braydon Nelson has a 3-0 record out of the bullpen this year, while Luke Anderson has a team-high 24 strikeouts.
All three games will be broadcasted live on the MIAA Network, as well as have live stats with links to both above in the story links. Friday’s game will be broadcasted live on Fox Sports Joplin with Kevin Welch bringing you the play-by-play.
