Hays, Kan. -- The Missouri Southern baseball team scored six runs in the top of the eighth and held on to take out Fort Hays 14-8 in the series opener at Larks Park in Hays. 

Southern (12-1, 5-0 MIAA) used a pair of big innings, scoring five in the fifth and six in the eighth to secure the win. 

Tyler Burgess started for the Lions and went six innings, striking out ten and earning the no-decision. Kanon Hoover threw the final two and two thirds of an inning, striking out two, walking none and holding the Tigers (3-10, 3-6 MIAA) hitless. 

Southern started its scoring in the top of the first when three-straight doubles from Chris Hoffman, Jesse Rall and Tee Helsel scored two and put the Lions up early. 

Hays answered with a run in the second, but the Lions scored a run in the fourth on an RBI from Hoffman. Another home run by Hays in the bottom half of the fourth tied the game at three before the Lions exploded for five runs in the fifth, four of them unearned. Jackson Cain had a two-RBI double and Jon Davis had a three-run home run to right in the inning. 

The Tigers scored a run in the fifth and four more in the seventh to tie the game. However, Southern answered back with six in the eighth. Jesse Rall started the inning with a home run to center, while Mitchell Osburn and Chad Shannon were both hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score a run. Davis then cleared the bases with a double to right field for the final tally. 

Davis finished the day going 2-5 with six RBIs and a run scored. Cain went 2-4 with a pair of runs and RBIs, while Rall went 2-5 with the same two runs and two RBIs. Shannon, Helsel, Richie Gorski and Osburn scored twice, while Shannon, Hoffman, Helsel and Osburn had a run driven in each. 

The Lions will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when these same two teams play two games beginning at 1 pm.