St. Joseph, Mo. -- The No. 21 ranked Missouri Southern baseball team hit four home runs and Payton Walker threw six strong as the Lions defeated Missouri Western 12-2 in seven innings to take the first two games of the series. 

Southern (15-4, 7-4 MIAA) had home runs from Jesse Rall, Chris Hoffman, Hayden Steele and Matt Smith in the game, three of which happening in the same inning. Payton Walker started and went six innings allowing just two hits and no runs as he struck out two to move his record to 5-1 on the season. Sean Goostree threw the seventh inning. 

Brett Graham went 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a run scored, while Rall went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Tyler Sutherland was 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs, while Chris Hoffman went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs and RBIs. Richie Gorski had a hit and a run scored, while Jacob Bryant was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Steele drove in two and scored once, while Smith had an RBI and a run scored. 

Western (14-8, 6-5 MIAA) hat a hit each from Landon Mason, Cosimo Canella, DAvid Glaude and Jeremy Alvarado. Alvarado hit a home run in the seventh for the Griffons' lone runs. 

The Lions got the scoring started in the first when Sutherland singled home Jesse Rall. Southern scored two more runs in the fourth. Rall started things off with a lead-off homer in the inning and after Sutherland had singled, Graham hit a double off the wall in left-center to score Sutherland. 

Southern broke the game open in the sixth, however, as the Lions scored nine runs in the inning. Southern sent 14 batters to the plate and got home runs from Smith, Steele and Hoffman in the inning. Graham had a bases-clearing hit, as well in the inning. 

The two teams will finish up the series tomorrow afternoon. First pitch from Griffon Park is slated for 1 pm.