Missouri Southern (32-18, 22-17 MIAA) vs. Missouri Western (34-16, 26-13 MIAA)
Weather Forecast: 74 degrees, partly cloudy, 20% chance of rain
Radio: ESPN Joplin - 101.5 FM
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/miaa/baseball
Live Audio: www.mssulions.com

Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern baseball team will open up the 2016 MIAA Baseball Tournament tomorrow evening as the Lions will take on Missouri Western in an opening-round game. First pitch from the Lou Brock Sports Complex is slated for 7:30 pm. 

The Lions come into the tournament as the number five seed, while the Griffons are the fourth seed. Southern took two of three games from the Griffons in St. Joseph earlier in the year when the Lions won games one and two by the run rule and Western returned the favor in game three. This game will feature two of the best hitting teams in the MIAA, as well as Division II. 

Western enters the game as the number 6 team in the latest NCAA D2 Central Region Rankings released today. Central Missouri is number two this week, while Emporia State is number seven and Washburn is number nine. The full rankings are listed below with MIAA teams in bold. 
 

CENTRAL		D2 overall	In-Region Record
1	St. Cloud St.	31-8	27-8
2	Central Mo.	34-12	34-12
3	Minn. Duluth	36-12	32-11
4	Minnesota St.	32-14	28-10
5	Ark.-Monticello	32-14	32-14
6	Mo. Western St.	34-16	34-16
7	Emporia St.	35-15	35-15
8	Southwestern Okla.	29-14	29-14
9	Washburn	31-18	31-18
10	Augustana (SD)	35-15	35-15

The Lions, as a team, rank sixth nationally in walks, while ranking 15th in home runs, 17th in slugging, 20th in both on base percentage and triples, 22nd in doubles, 24th in runs scored, 29th in scoring and 31st in hits. Southern leads the MIAA in walks, while ranking second in three other categories and third in seven other. 

Jesse Rall ranks 11th nationally in home runs, while Tyler Sutherland ranks fifth in sacrifice flies. Richie Gorski ranks 22nd nationally in doubles, while Rall ranks 25th in slugging, 27th in walks, 29th in hit by pitch and 36th in total bases. Payton Walker ranks 22nd in games started, while he and Cody Hutchinson rank 34th nationally in wins. 

Payton Walker started game two of the series between the two teams earlier in the year and he will get the start for the Lions on Thursday. He went six innings, limiting the Griffons to just two hits and no runs to get the win. The Griffons will most likely counter with Richard Peoples against the Lions. Peoples only went four innings in the game he through against Southern earlier in the year, allowing three runs in four innings and suffering the loss as he went head-to-head with Walker. Peoples, however, has rebounded since then and ranks 15th in Division II and leads the MIAA in wins with nine. 

The Griffons, as a team, rank second in the country in double-plays, while ranking 11th in hits, 14th in runs, 18th in both on base percentage and scoring, while also ranking 19th in both walks and batting average. Individually, Cosimo Cannella is 11th nationally in RBIs per game, while David Glaude ranks 17th in RBIs, 19th in on base percentage and is tied with Gorski for 22nd in doubles. Orencio Fisher is 16th in runs scored and Glaude is 25th and 26th in total bases and triples. 

The winner of this game will face off with the winner of the Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri game at 7:30 pm on Friday evening. The loser of the game will face the loser of that game at 12:30 pm on Friday. 

Every Missouri Southern post season game will be carried live on ESPN Joplin on 101.5 FM in Joplin, as well as streamed live on www.mssulions.com. Justin Maskus will bring you the action on Thursday, while Rob Forrest will join Maskus for Friday's game. All other games will be done by Ron Fauss and Forrest.