Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern baseball team will open the 2022 MIAA Baseball Tournament as the Lions will travel to Pittsburg State for a best-of-three series with the Gorillas beginning Friday evening.
 
Games will be played at Al Ortolani Field on the campus of PSU and will start at 6 pm on Friday, 3 pm on Saturday and 1 pm on Sunday (if necessary). Live video and live audio will be available for every game this weekend with links to both in the story links section above.
 
The Lions (28-21) and Gorillas (29-18) met three times in the regular season where the Lions dropped two-of-three at home, winning the finale against PSU 14-2. In MIAA Tournament history, Southern has won all three previous matches between the two schools and the Lions have a 61-46 advantage in the all-time series.
 
Southern is 39-32 in MIAA Tournament history. The Lions have won the tournament four previous times, taking the title in 1991 and 1992, as well as 2013 and 2015.
 
This year, the Lions are hitting .311 as a team and carry a 5.97 team ERA. Southern leads the MIAA in doubles, doubles per game, shutouts and strikeout to walk ratio, while ranking second in home runs, and fewest walks allowed per nine innings. The Lions rank in the top three of 13 different MIAA categories.
 
Southern is fourth nationally in doubles and seventh in home runs, while ranking 10^th in shutouts and 11^th in slugging. The Lions rank 16^th in both hits and triples.
 
Individually Jordan Fitzpatrick leads the MIAA in doubles, while Logan VanWey leads the conference in starts, strikeouts, and strikeouts per nine innings, while Scott Duensing, Ryan Paschal and Cale McCallister rank 1, 2 and 4 in the MIAA in appearances. VanWey ranks third nationally in strikeouts and eighth in strikeouts per nine innings, while ranking 12^th nationally in starts. Duensing and Pashcall
 
Tommy Stevenson ranks second in slugging and home runs per game, while Matt Miller ranks third in the MIAA in total bases and doubles.
 
PSU finished the regular season third in the MIAA. The Gorillas hit .324 as a team and carry a 6.29 team ERA. Garrett McGowan leads the team with a .410 batting average, 16 home runs and 75 RBIs. The 75 RBIs is one shy of breaking into the MIAA single-season top-ten list. Jordan Maxson has 14 home runs, while Kaden Fowler has 13.
 
Peyton Ingalls is 7-1 in 13 starts, while Ben DesRosiers is 5-2 with most of his action coming from the bullpen. Tanner Lane leads PSU with 53 strikeouts on the season.
 
With a pair of wins, the Lions would advance to next weekend's MIAA Tournament where a double-elimination four-team format would be held on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma. The Lions would play the winner of the Northeastern State-Rogers State series.