Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern baseball team will head to Rogers State tomorrow afternoon for a mid-week MIAA contest against the Hillcats. First-pitch from Claremore is set for 3 pm.
Live stats and video will be available for the game and links to each can be found in the story links section above.
The Lions (23-15 (13-10 MIAA) sit in sixth place in the MIAA standings as the team carries a .315 batting average and a 5.51 ERA. Eight of the nine regular starters the Lions have are hitting at .300 or better with two more within striking distance. As a team, the Lions have 70 home runs on the season, leading the MIAA in that category, and are just 12 longballs from breaking the single-season team record.
Tommy Stevenson leads the way with a .402 batting average and 15 home runs, both team-highs. He has 39 RBIs, which is second on the team and 112 total bases. Stevenson is slugging .848 with a .503 on-base percentage and a 1.351 OPS.
Henry Kusiak is hitting .351 with seven homers and 33 RBIs, while scoring 40 runs, second only to Stevenson (42).
Matt Miller (12) and
Treghan Parker (10) both have double-digit homers on the season and both are tied for the team-lead in RBIs (42).
Jordan Fitzpatrick has a team-high 17 doubles on the season and is third on the team in hits with 51.
Four current Lions are in the top-ten in career home runs at MSSU.
Matt Miller (32) is third, while
Tommy Stevenson (31) is fourth,
Jordan Fitzpatrick (25) is eighth and
Henry Kusiak (21) is tenth.
Logan VanWey leads the pitchers and is 4-3 on the season with a 3.79 ERA. He is tops in the MIAA with 86 strikeouts and is 3-1 in his last five starts where he has allowed a total of four earned runs in that stretch for a 1.05 ERA.
Cale McCallister has a 2.33 ERA in 19 appearances and a 2-0 record out of the bullpen, while
Scott Duensing and
Ryan Paschal are tied for the team-lead in appearances with 20 each. Both
Jacob Davis and
Cole Gayman are 5-1 on the season.
Rogers State (19-18, 12-11 MIAA) lost two-of-three at Pittsburg State this past weekend and the Hillcats have lost seven of its last 11 games. The team hits .287 and carries a 6.87 ERA.
Jesse Holguin has a team-high .385 batting average as well as team-high's in RBIs (42) and hits (57). He is second on the team with 33 runs scored. Joel Escalante leads the team with five home runs, while Gavin Mestas has a team-high 47 runs scored.
The Hillcats are led on the mound by Jordan Ewig who is 5-3 on the season with a 4.19 ERA. He has struck out 48 in 62.1 innings pitched and has three complete games. Octavio Sanchez leads the team with five saves.
After this game, the Lions will travel to Newman this weekend for a three-game set beginning on Thursday.
