Joplin, Mo. - After a full week on the road, the Missouri Southern baseball team will be back at Warren Turner Field for a home contest on Tuesday. That contest will be a non-conference matchup, featuring the Drury Panthers of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Earlier in the season the teams met in Springfield, where MSSU came out with a 10-8 victory. 

Game Information:
Teams: #8 Missouri Southern (33-10, 20-7 MIAA) vs Drury (20-15, 18-6 GLVC)
Dates: April 16 (Tuesday)
First Pitch: 6:00pm
Location: Joplin, Mo.
Site: Warren Turner Field
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Scouting the Lions
In last week's NCBWA national poll, the team was back up to the #8 spot thanks to a series victory over #19 Central Oklahoma. They remain second in both the Central Region rankings and MIAA standings behind Central Missouri. MSSU began the year with a big 7-2 victory over #17 Southern Arkansas, and Cole Gayman was named the National Pitcher of the Week for his performance. The offense exploded in game two, winning 16-4 over Henderson State. Another strong offensive performance occurred the next day as the Lions defeated Arkansas-Monticello 10-6. Ouachita Baptist took the final game of the opening tournament, 8-1. In their first midweek contest with SWOSU, MSSU plated a few late, but fell 7-4 to the Bulldogs. 

The Lions outscored the Ouachita Baptist Tigers 26-2 in their home opening series, taking game one 15-1 in seven innings, game two 6-0, and game three 5-1. In another mid-week contest, the Lion bats exploded for 21 runs against Oklahoma Baptist, ending it 21-6 in seven innings. Missouri Southern then picked up five wins in four days with big victories over MSU-Mankato 2-1, Illinois Springfield 5-2, and Northeastern State 14-6. In their first MIAA series, they took two out of three against Fort Hays State, taking game one 14-10, game two 23-5, and dropping game three 5-3. MSSU fell to Oklahoma Baptist in their second meeting this year, splitting the season series with the Bison. 

In the first MIAA series of the year, the Lions swept the Jets by scores of 15-0, 7-6, and 11-9. They picked up a second straight series sweep against Emporia State, 5-0, 11-7, 11-8. In the first of the split up midweek series with Rogers State, Bryce Darnell won his 500th game as the head coach of the Lions with a 5-1 victory. Their eight game win streak came to an end in game two against Pittsburg State, but the Lions closed out the series with a 3-1 victory to take the series two games to one. The Lions took a break in MIAA action with a midweek contest against Drury, outlasting the Panthers 10-8. Returning to conference play, the Lions took two out of three against Washburn, winning game one 3-0 and game three 11-8 but dropping game two 7-5. In game two of the spread out series with Rogers State, the Lions found all kinds of ways to score, winning it 13-4. On the road against Northwest Missouri, Southern dropped game one 6-5 in 11 innings, took game two 7-5 in 12 innings, then fell in game three to suffer their first series loss of the season. They bounced back with a big series win, taking two out of three against #19 Central Oklahoma. In their two victories, the Lions run-ruled the Bronchos, taking game two 11-1 in seven innings and game three 17-6 in eight innings. Wrapping up their spread out series with Rogers State, the Hillcats took game three by a score of 8-4 to avoid the season sweep. The team bounced back with a big weekend, sweeping Northeastern State on the road by scores of 5-1, 13-9, and 11-1 in seven innings. 

Henry Kusiak broke his fifth record this year over the weekend, becoming the program's sole leader in career runs batted in. The other program records he broke this year include career hits, total bases, at-bats, and extra base hits. He leads the team in nearly every hitting category, recording a .396 batting average (65-164), collecting 13 doubles, 3 triples, and 12 home runs this season for a .732 slugging percentage. From those hits, he has driven in 51 runs and scored 56 himself. Additionally, Kusiak has been named the MIAA Hitter of the Week twice this season. He leads the conference in hits, ranking second in the MIAA in runs scored and third in OBP and hit by pitch. 

Will Doherty had a big week, hitting .500 on 9 hits with 8 RBI. On the season, he has driven in a team-high 54 runs so far this season and has crossed the plate 52 times as well. Of his 64 hits, 15 have been doubles, 2 triples, and 9 home runs. He is hitting .366 with an OPS of 1.101. In the MIAA rankings, Doherty is tied for the most at-bats, ranking second in hits, and runs batted in. 

Ethan Clark has recorded 53 hits for a .338 batting average, driving in 33 runs and scoring 35 as well. His 16 doubles and 3 triples are both team-highs. Drew Townsend continues to lead all of NCAA Division II in walks, drawing 48 this season. He has also crossed the plate 53 times. Garrett Rice continues to stay hot after earning MIAA Hitter of the Week honors last Monday. On the season, Rice has driven in 45 runs with 11 doubles and 9 home runs, hitting .305 at the plate. 

Cole Gayman has won eight games in 11 starts this year, leading to four total MIAA POTW awards and one NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week honor. Over his 65.2 innings pitched this year, he has given up 43 hits, 16 earned runs, and 28 walks, striking out 74 batters in the process. He is holding opposing hitters to a .181 average and has an ERA of 2.19, both are top numbers in the MIAA. Trent Harris picked up another win on Saturday, now 4-0 on the season. He has 57 strikeouts over 49.0 innings pitched with a 4.59 ERA. Out of the bullpen, Laif Hultine picked up save number 5 this season on Friday, upping his career total to 15. The program record for most career saves is currently 17. In his 26.0 innings pitched, Hultine has retired 24 via the strikeout. Keaton Anderson got his first start of the season on Sunday, going 5.0 innings for the win. He gave up just 1 run on 7 hits, striking out 2 and giving up 0 walks in the process.

Scouting the Panthers
The Drury Panthers have turned things around quite a bit since the teams last met, now sitting at 20-15 (18-6 GLVC) on the season. In the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings, the Panthers hold the third spot. After falling 10-8 to Missouri Southern on March 19, the team won six straight that included a four game sweep of Upper Iowa, and two games against Quincy. Although that streak ended with a 10-2 loss to Quincy, the Panthers still took the series three games to four. They dropped a 4-3 contest to Pittsburg State on April 2, but it took the Gorillas 11 innings to win it. In their past two series, Drury took three out of four against McKendree and another three out of four against Illinois Springfield. Most recently, the Panthers won 15-3 in seven innings against the Prairie Stars. 

Connor Bain (#2) has the highest average of the starters for Drury at .375, collecting 7 doubles and 2 home runs in his 42 hits. Luke Burk (#8) is the team leader in runs batted in, driving in 47 this year. He also leads the team with 14 home runs and 25 walks. Wes Collins (#33) has been a key impact as well, recording 10 doubles and 5 home runs with 31 RBI and a .327 batting average this season. 

In the first meeting between the teams, Jack Jones (#12) got the start. He has a 5.97 ERA over 28.2 innings pitched this season, striking out 19 on the year. He went 3.0 innings in that first contest against MSSU, giving up 4 runs on 6 hits with 1 strikeout. Cody Bahl (#22) leads the team with 62 strikeouts over 63.2 innings pitched, 4-1 on the season. Cade Waits (#21) is 6-1 on the year with a 4.81 ERA, holding opposing hitters to a .254 batting average.