Maryville, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern baseball team completed the series sweep against Northwest Missouri today and won its eighth-straight game, taking down the Bearcats 11-4 in the series finale. 

Southern (19-11, 15-9 MIAA) has now won 11 of its last 12 games. 

Freshman Payton Walker started for Southern and went six innings, striking out five and allowing just three runs to pick up his fourth win of the season. Drew Noble and Bo Bergen pitched the final three innings of the game, limiting Northwest to just four hits over that span. 

Southern scored two runs in the first on a double from Sam Ryan and a single from Tee Helsel and the Lions added three more runs in the fourth to go up 5-0 after four. Will Wagner had an RBI single, scoring Ryan and Michael McCoy drove in both Wagner and Helsel with a single of his own in the inning. 

Northwest (9-21, 7-18 MIAA) picked up a run in the fifth, but the Lions answered with two more in the top of the sixth on RBIs from Shaun Hoover and Thomas Wilson. 

The Bearcats scored two in their half of the sixth to make the score 7-3, before the Lions scored three more in the seventh to put the game away. The Lions had RBIs from Helsel and Wagner in the inning. 

Both teams scored a run each late to make the final tally, 11-4. 

Helsel went 3-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Ryan was 3-4 with three runs and an RBI. Hoover went 2-5 with a run and two RBIs, while McCoy was 2-6 with two driven in. 

Southern will be back in action next Saturday and Sunday with a three-game series against Washburn at Joe Becker Stadium in Joplin.