Southern baseball to play host to number five Central Oklahoma

(From Missouri Southern Sports)

The Missouri Southern baseball program is set to host No. 5 Central Oklahoma in a three day conference series from Warren Turner Field from Friday Mar. 10th - Sunday Mar. 12th.

The Lions (13-6, 4-2 MIAA) and Bronchos (15-3, 5-1 MIAA) will begin action on Friday at 6:00pm before playing on Saturday and Sunday at 1:00pm with all games being played at Warren Turner Field.

Southern as a team is hitting .324 with 45 home runs and 49 doubles while averaging 11.7 hits and 9.7 runs per game and as a pitching staff has a 6.44 ERA while averaging 8.0 strikeouts per game and opponents hitting .292. Individually the Lions have six batters batting over .300 with at least two plate appearances a game and plying in 75% of total games played, Nate Mieszkowski leads the team with a .429 average, 26 runs, 36 hits, six doubles while having seven home runs, 24 RBIs, a .774 slugging percentage and .490 on-base percentage while swiping five bases. Matt Miller is hitting .392 with 22 runs scored, 29 hits, four doubles, nine home runs, 26 RBIs while slugging .811 with a .465 on-base percentage. Garrett Rice is hitting .39 with 25 runs scored, 32 hits, five doubles, seven home runs, 23 RBIs while slugging .732 with a .464 on-base percentage. Henry Kusiak (.325), Will Doherty (.324) and Tyler Ferguson (.303) round out the hitters meeting requirements and batting above .300.

On the mound Cole Woods is 3-1 from five starts for 26.2 innings, striking out 30 and walking eight with opponents hitting .260 against him. Owen Schneider is 1-1 from five starts with 20.0 innings, striking out 19 and opponents hitting .263. Trent Harris is 1-0 in four starts with 13.1 innings and 13 strikeouts, Cale McCallister is 3-0 with six appearances, three being starts for 16.1 innings, Cole Gayman has two starts from five appearances with 17.1 innings and 15 strikeouts with opponents hitting .268 against him. Laif Hultine has featured 10 times out of the bullpen with 9.2 innings for eight strikeouts and opponents hitting .194 against him. Kyle Moore leads the bullpen with 17.2 innings and 20 strikeouts from seven appearances.

UCO as a team is hitting .312 with 12 home runs and 44 doubles while averaging 9.9 hits and 8.1 runs per game and as a pitching staff has a 3.77 ERA while averaging 8.5 strikeouts per game and opponents hitting .228. 

Individually the Bronchos have four batters batting over .300 with at least two plate appearances a game and plying in 75% of total games played, Jaden Parson leads the team with a .390 average with 16 runs scored, 23 hits, three doubles, 10 RBIs and is 6-for-8 for stolen bases. Kaleb Glass has a .361 average with 18 runs scored, 22 hits, two triples, 13 RBIs and is 9-for-9 for stolen bases. Orlando Gonzalez has a .314 average with 16 runs scored, 22 hits, four doubles, three home runs, eight RBIs and is 6-for-10 for stolen bases. 

Cameron Uselton has a .311 average with 16 runs, 19 hits, six doubles, 18 RBIs and is 3-for-4 for stolen bases. Seth Gray hitting .274 is the power bat with five homers, three triples, 25 RBIs, slugging .694 and is 5-for-8 for stolen bases. The speed demon is Aiden Proctor going 17-for-19 on stolen base attempts this season while hitting .436 this season from 11 games.

Chris Spry leads the pitching staff with 22.1 innings and 20 strikeouts for a 3-0 record from four starts with a 3.63 ERA and opponents hitting .205 against him. James Wambold has a 1-1 record from four starts with 18.0 innings for 11 strikeouts and opponents hitting .242 against him. Diego Sominguez and Marcos Lopez have both started four games with Lopez pitching 14.2 innings with 18 strikeouts and opponents hitting .283 against him. Jeb Jenkins, Aiden Bagwell, Jacob Bailey and Valek Cisneros have made eight appearances out of the bullpen each this season with Jenkins throwing 17.2 innings and 19 strikeouts and opponents batting .131. Bailey leads the staff with five saves from 14.0 innings with 18 strikeouts and opponents hitting .163 against him. Cisneros has two saves from 8.1 inning with opponents hitting .172 against him.