MSSU baseball to play three games at Southwest Baptist this weekend

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The 16th-ranked Missouri Southern baseball team will head to Bolivar this weekend as the Lions will take on Southwest Baptist in a double-header on Friday and a single game on Saturday. Both days will begin at noon.

Southern (24-11, 15-6 MIAA) comes into the weekend with a one-game lead in the MIAA standings over both Central Missouri and Emporia State. Southwest Baptist (12-21, 6-15 MIAA) will be playing its last series against the Lions as an MIAA opponent as the Bearcats head to the GLVC next season.

The Lions are hitting .287 as a team and have a 4.54 team ERA. Southern has hit 43 home runs on the season and the Lions' pitching staff has struck out 364 hitters on the season. As a team, the Lions rank sixth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings, ninth in doubles per game, 11th in fewest walks, 10th in doubles, 16th in strikeout to walk ratio and 17th in home runs. The Lions lead the MIAA in nine different categories, while ranking in the top three in 20 categories.

Individually, Dexter Swims ranks second nationally in hits per game, while Dvin Gummere ranks fourth nationally in walks. Zach Parish is sixth nationally in strikeouts, while he and Zac Shoemaker rank 11th in games started. Denver Coffee Ranks 11th in doubles, while River Wright ranks 10th in appearances. Swims ranks 14th in total hits, while Freddie Landers ranks 17th in hit by pitch.

Swims leads the offensive attack with a .406 batting average with 12 doubles, five home runs and 32 RBIs. Landers has a team-high seven homers and is hitting .328. Parish is 5-0 with a 2.43 ERA, while Will Bausinger is 4-2 with a 2.89 ERA. Shoemaker is 3-2 iwth a 3.31 ERA. Cam Bednar has a team-high five Saves, while Wright has a 2-0 record and a 3.44 ERA out of the bullpen.

The Bearcats come into the series hitting .280 as a team and carry a 6.33 team ERA. The two teams got together earlier in the year in non-conference action with the Lions taking the game 11-10 at Warren Turner Field.

SBU has five players hitting .300 or better, led by Caleb Sneed at .418. Carl Schwettmann leads the team with six home runs, while Jackson Soule has a team-high 30 RBIs. Kyle Smith is 1-2 with a 2.27 ERA, while Dalton Morrow is 4-4 with a 3.48 ERA.

Each game will have live stats and live video and links to each can be found above in the story links. After this series, the Lions will host a non-conference game against Emporia State on Tuesday, April 16th at 5 pm.