Joplin, Mo. -- The 18th-ranked Missouri Southern baseball team will open up MIAA play and play host to Emporia State this Saturday and Sunday at Warren Turner Field. 

The Lions and Hornets will play a pair of games on Saturday beginning at 1 pm and the series finale will be Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. 

Southern comes into the game ranked 18th nationally and leading the MIAA with a 6-0 overall record. Southern opened the regular season with a sweep at Flagler College in Florida and went 3-0 this past weekend playing host to the MIAA/GLVC Challenge with wins over Missouri S&T (2) and Missouri Western. 

Will Bausinger was the MIAA Pitcher of the Week after getting the win in the finale this past Monday, striking out nine in five innings of work. Henry Kusiak hit .500 on the week, while the Lions had a pair of homers from Joe Kinder. The Lions have hit 13 home runs on the season as a team and have driven in 45 runs, while hitting .300 as a team. Kusiak leads the way at .417, while Dexter Swims leads the team with 10 RBIs. 

Bausinger is 2-0 on the season and is second in strikeouts with 17. Zac Shoemaker (1-0) and Zach Parish (1-0) are tied at 18 K's each. 

Emporia State is 2-2 on the season as the Hornets split a four-game set at Colorado State - Pueblo this past weekend to open the season. 

Live stats and live vide will be available all series long and can be found by clicking on the story links above.