Joplin, Mo. – The No. 27 Missouri Southern baseball team will wrap up the regular-season as the Lions play host to Rogers State this weekend at Warren Turner Field.
Games will consist of a double-header beginning at 1 pm on Friday and a single game on Saturday at 1 pm. Friday's first game will be brought live on Fox Sports Joplin with Kevin Welch and Bobby Landis on the call.
The Lions (27-10, 20-10 MIAA) are coming off a three-game sweep at Northwest Missouri last weekend that saw the Lions get a thrilling extra-inning win in the finale of the series on Sunday.
Southern leads the MIAA in doubles, doubles per game, home runs, home runs per game, shutouts, strikeout to walk ratio and strikeouts per nine innings. The Lions rank in the top three of 13 other offensive and defensive categories within the MIAA.
Individually,
Zach Parish comes into the series with a 9-1 overall record and a 1.38 ERA. Parish has 119 strikeouts on the season this year and is just three strikeouts from breaking the NCAA Division II all-time strikeout record. Parish already owns the MIAA career mark. Currently, Zach is the Division II active leader in career innings pitched (367), strikeouts (471), games started (59) and wins (32). In all of college baseball (D1, 2 and 3), Zach is the career active leader in each of those categories, as well, sharing only wins with another individual.
Troy Gagan leads the Lions with a .379 batting average and has nine homers and 31 RBIs on the season.
Jordan Fitzpatrick is hitting .375 with 18 doubles, 11 home runs and 43 RBIs, while
Tommy Stevenson has 11 home runs, a team-high 48 RBIs and a .338 average.
Joe Kinder leads the team with 13 home runs.
Will Bausinger is 6-2 on the year, with 79 strikeouts in 71 innings, while the Lions hit .306 as a team and carry a 4.33 ERA.
The Hillcats (17-18, 13-17 MIAA) are led offensively by Brandon Bradshaw who is hitting .342 with six home runs and 29 RBIs. CJ Edwards is 2-4 with a 3.22 ERA, while Brett Karalius is 5-4 with a 3.71 ERA.
Each game will be streamed live on The MIAA Network, with live stats as well. Links to both can be found above in the story links section.
The Lions will be back at home next weekend, playing host to a quarterfinal series in the 2021 MIAA Baseball Championship presented by Mammoth Sports Construction. Games will be played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
