Baseball Lions play host to Southwest Baptist this weekend to finish off regular season
Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern baseball team will finish off the regular season this Friday and Saturday as the Lions play host to Southwest Baptist at Joe Becker Stadium.
Friday's games will begin at 3 pm with that night serving as All-Athlete night for baseball where all of Southern's athletes are encouraged to come out and cheer on the Lions. Saturday will feature a double-header beginning at 1 pm. Between the two games, the Lions will recognize each of the 15 seniors on this year's roster.
Scouting the Lions - Southern comes into the matchup with a 28-18 overall record and the Lions are 19-17 in the MIAA, and are tied for fifth in the league standings. The Lions, however are just two games back out of third place in the loss column, while the third through sixth place teams in the league all have 19 conference wins going into the final weekend.
The Lions rank third in the MIAA in pitching with a team ERA of 3.58, while senior Cody Griebling leads the MIAA in innings pitched with 82.0. He is third in strikeouts with 63. Griebling trails Missouri Western's Brandon Simmons for the league-lead in complete games with eight to Simmons' nine. The duo, however, rank No. 1 and No. 2 in Division II in that category. Griebling ranks third in the MIAA in wins and 24th nationally.
Luke Acosta ranks second in the MIAA in runs scored with 49and second in triples with four. Michael McCoy is in the top ten in the league in hitting with a .377 average and he ranks third in the league in stolen bases with 16.
Scouting the Bearcats - SBU is 20-24 on the season under interim head coach Chris Martin. The Bearcats sit in eighth place in the MIAA with a 14-20 conference record. Tyler Christophel leads the MIAA in both runs (53) and stolen bases (36), while hitting .366 with four home runs and 21 RBIs. Drew Miller leads the team and ranks seventh in the MIAA in hitting with a .393 average. He has two home runs and ranks third in the league with 42 RBIs.
MIAA Pitcher/Hitter of the Week - Southern has had four of the MIAA Pitchers of the week this season with Cody Griebling taking home three of the weekly honors and Ryan Wheat one. Sam Ryan and Dane Kolkmeyer have each been named Hitter of the Week once. Both Southern and Fort Hays have had six players named either Pitcher or Hitter of the Week this season.
Live Coverage - Fans wishing to follow all of the stats live, as they happen, can watch the MSSU Live Stats feed via this link (Live Stats). For a complete listing of each of this weekend's MIAA games, follow their live stats via this link (MIAA Live Stats).
