Kansas City, Kan. -- The 15th ranked Missouri Southern baseball team advanced to the MIAA Tournament Championship game today with an 11-7 win over Emporia State at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. 

Southern (40-11) wins game number 40 for the first time since the 1995 season when that team went 45-13. Matt Harvey threw five and two thirds of an inning in relief to earn the win and move his record to 5-2 on the year. Kanon Hoover threw a perfect inning and a third and struck out two to pick up save number five on the year. 

The Lions picked up five runs in the first inning. Jesse Rall singled up the middle to score Chris Hoffman and Richie Gorski and Evin Natick singled home Rall. A double from Mitchell Osburn scored Jacob Bryant and moved Natick to third and an Axel Johnson ground out scored Natick. 

Emporia (38-14) scored three runs in the top of the second, but the Lions answered back with three of their own on a three-run bomb from Natick, scoring Hoffman and Rall. 

Davis singled home Tee Helsel for a run in the third and the Lions added another run in the sixth on a Bryant RBI, scoring Davis. 

The Hornets made it close with a run in the seventh and three in the eighth, but Bryant added another RBI on a sacrifice fly to push across another insurance run. 

Natick went 2-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored, while Hoffman was 4-5 with a pair of runs scored. Davis went 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Rall went 2-3 with two runs and a pair of RBIs. Osburn had a pair of hits and an RBI, and Gorski scored once. 

The Lions advance to the MIAA Tournament Championship game for the second time in three years, having won the tournament in 2013 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. 

Southern will play the winner of the Emporia State/Washburn game on Saturday. Game time is yet to be determined, but game one on the day will begin at 11 am for ESU/WU.