The Missouri Southern baseball team will open up the 2019 MIAA Baseball Tournament tomorrow afternoon as the Lions will take on Northwest Missouri State in the opening round from Al Ortolani Field in Pittsburg.
The Lions (32-17) enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed, while the Bearcats (23-25) enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed.
Southern finished the regular season with a .279 batting average and a 4.42 team ERA. The Lions lead the MIAA in walks, doubles, home runs, strikeout to walk ratio and strikeouts per nine innings, while ranking second in triples, runs, on base percentage and hit by pitch.
Individually, Zach Parish finished the regular-season with an 8-1 record, a 2.44 ERA and a school-record 126 strikeouts. He leads the MIAA in fewest hits, strikeouts and wins, while ranking third in ERA. He helped the Lions set the single-season strikeout mark as Southern has fanned 505 batters this season. Parish is 28 strikeouts from breaking the MIAA single-season record, while the Lions are 59 k's from breaking the team single-season record. Parish was part of a school record 21 strikeouts for the Lion earlier in the year that set an MSSU single-game record and he has held opposing batters to a .186 batting average.
Dexter Swims leads the Lions this year with a .346 batting average, starting in all 47 games he played in. He has a team-high 71 hits, finishing fifth in the MIAA in that category, while ranking fifth in runs and doubles, as well as eighth in total bases. He is tied with fellow freshman Matt Miller and Denver Coffee for the team-high in RBIs with 34.
Freddie Landers is hitting .341 this year and leads the team with ten home runs, while ranking second with 33 RBIs. Landers set a new MSSU school record this year with 20 times being hit by a pitch, which leads the MIAA and ranked 19th nationally. He ranks sixth in the league in home runs, eighth in runs scored and ninth in total bases, while ranking tenth in walks.
Zac Shoemaker is second on the team with a 7-2 record and had a 3.20 ERA in his sophomore season. Shoemaker is second in the MIAA in wins, while leading the league with Parish in starts. Shoemaker has struck out 71 batters and is holding opponents to a .248 batting average.
The Bearcats are hitting .286 as a team and carry a 6.67 ERA. Southern defeated Northwest Missouri two-out-of-three games earlier in the year in the MIAA series at Warren Turner Field and won in a non-conference matchup, as well to carry a 3-1 record against Northwest this year.
Each of the games will be carried live on the MSSU Radio Network as part of ESPN Joplin on 101.3 and 107.9 FM, as well as 1340 and 1560 AM. Live video for each of the MIAA Tournament games will be carried on www.themiaanetwork.com. Live stats, as well as links to each of the before mentioned video and audio, can be found above in the story links.
With a win, the Lions will move on to face the winner of Central Oklahoma and Lindenwood at 4 pm on Friday. A loss would put the Lions up against the loser of that game at 9 am on Friday morning.
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