St. Joseph, Mo. -- The 29th ranked Missouri Southern baseball program shut out No. 30 Missouri Western today, 8-0 at the Spring Sports Complex in St. Joseph. 

Southern (20-4, 11-2 MIAA) got a superb start from senior Tyler Burgess as the Webb City native went eight innings, striking out nine, while allowing just three hits. Derek Mann, in his first action of the season, pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out one. 

Western (17-10, 11-6 MIAA) managed just four hits off the Lions' pitching staff. 

The Lions got the scoring started in the second when Chad Shannon singled home Tee Helsel. Jesse Rall scored the second run of the inning on a ground out. 

Neither team scored until the eighth when the Lions broke out for six runs in the top half of the inning. 

Axel Johnson led off the inning with his fifth home run of the year. Jon Davis hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Mitchell Osburn for the second run of the inning, while Rall added a two-run single, scoring both Richie Gorski and Evin Natick. Johnson then came back around to hit, his second time of the inning, and this time drove in Rall and Helsel with a single. 

Johnson went 2-4 with three RBIs and a run scored in the game. Rall was 2-4 with a pair of runs and RBIs, while Osburn was 2-4 with a run scored. Chris Hoffman, Davis, Shannon and Jackson Cain had a hit each. 

The two teams will be back at it tomorrow, playing two double-headers. First pitch of game one is slated for 1 pm.