Missouri Southern men to close out regular season at Nebraska-Kearney

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The 23rd-ranked Missouri Southern men's basketball team will close out the regular-season with a road game at Nebraska-Kearney. Tip off is slated for 4 pm from the Health and Sports Center.

Game Information

Teams: (#25/23) Missouri Southern (22-6, 13-5 MIAA) at Nebraska-Kearney (10-17, 5-13 MIAA)
Date: March 2, 2019
Tip-Off: 4 PM
Location: Kearney, Neb.
Site: Health and Sports Center
Series Record: UNK leads 22-14
Coaches: Jeff Boschee (98-51 overall/at MSSU - 5th year). Kevin Lofton (223-178 overall/at UNK)

The Series

Nebraska-Kearney leads the all-time series 22-14 between the two schools, and the two teams have split the last ten meetings Southern has won the last two games in the MIAA Tournament against UNK. Southern is 10-8 at home, 2-14 on the road and 2-0 in neutral site games.

MIAA Team Stat Leaders

The Lions, as a team, lead the MIAA in three point attempts, defensive rebounds, free throw attempts, free throws made, scoring and total rebounds.

MIAA Individual Stat Leaders

Cam Martin leads the MIAA in field goal percentage, free throw attempts and free throws made. Elyjah Clark leads the MIAA in three point attempts, minutes per game and total minutes.

Streak Stopper

Coming into the season Elyjah Clark had made a three pointer in 47-straight games, dating back to his freshman season. Clark, however, missed out on a three in the first game of the year, but has made a three in each game since, taking his current streak to 27.

Three-Point Streak

The Lions failed to make a three-pointer at Arkansas Tech in their match-up in 2012-13. It was the first time in 403 games that Southern had failed to hit a three pointer, dating back to Jan. 20, 1999 against Missouri S&T. The Lions have had a three in 201-straight games since Arkansas Tech in 2012-13.

National Ranking

The Lions are ranked No. 25 in the NABC poll this week and 23rd in the D2SID's Poll. In the history of the NABC Poll, the Lions have been ranked 59 times, including 23 consecutive weeks. The team has been No. 1 once (in the 2011 season).

Hard Working Man

Elyjah Clark leads the MIAA in minutes per game and total minutes.

Corndogs Jackie

Southern is averaging 86 points per game this season and the Lions have topped the century mark five times.

Record-Breaking Sniper

Junior Elyjah Clark already has the Missouri Southern single-season record for three pointers with 110. Clark broke the career record against Fort Hays State last weekend and has 275 career three pointers now as a junior. With one season left to play, Clark now can target the MIAA record of 370.

Reachin' A Grand

Elyjah Clark went over 1,000 points in his career with 18 points against Minnesota-Crookston in the Puerto Rico Tournament. He currently has 1,344 in his career and is the 21st person in MSSU history to crack the 1,000 point plateau. Clark has moved into 11th place all-time, passing Taevaunn Prince. Next up is Terry Shumpert at 1,379 points.

Elyjah For Three

Clark has the top-two single-season three-point totals in MSSU history and his 275 threes made in his two-plus year career rank first. His career three-point percentage of .408 is second-best all-time, while he also tied the single-game record for three's made with nine. He has the season and career record for three pointers per game, while also holding the MSSU season and career record for consecutive games with a three (47).

Up Next

The Lions will play on Friday, March 8 in the quarterfinals of the 2019 MIAA Tournament. Their opponent and game time is TBA.

Southern baseball splits pair with Missouri Western

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The 25th-ranked Missouri Southern baseball team had a thrilling come-from-behind victory in game one, but was on the wrong side of a pitcher's duel in game two as the Lions split a double-header with Missouri Western, winning 5-4, but falling 1-0.

The Lions (11-4, 4-1 MIAA) got strong pitching all day as Zach Parish started in game one and went seven innings with nine strikeouts and just two walks, allowing only three hits and two earned runs. Parish picked up a no-decision, while Bradly Hershey got the win in relief, moving to 2-0 on the season.

The Lions started the scoring in the second inning with an RBI walk from Davin Gummere, scoring Mike Million.

Western scored four unanswered runs, before the Lions returned the favor. Southern got two runs in the eighth as Million doubled home Dexter Swims and Ryan Hunter singled home Matt Miller to get the Lions within a run (4-3).

The Lions then picked up a pair of runs in the ninth as Swims singled home Gummere and Denver Coffee got the walk-off hit, scoring Freddie Landers.

Swims and Coffee had two hits each in the game, while Gummere, Landers, Phillips, Miller, Million, Hunter and Dan Lenz had a hit each. Gummere, Landers, Swims, Miller and Million scored.

Game two saw a pitching duel as Western (6-6, 4-1 MIAA) starter Anthony Castaneda went the distance, limiting the Lions to three hits.

Zac Shoemaker got the hard-luck loss as he went seven innings, scattering four hits and allowing just one run. Hershey threw two scoreless innings in relief.

Coffee, Miller and Hunter had a hit each in the game.

The two teams will be back in action tomorrow for the series finale. First pitch from Warren Turner Field is slated for 11 am.

MSSU softball splits doubleheader

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern softball team split its two games inside the Pat Lipira Softball Complex by defeating the Cardinals of William Jewell 9-2 before falling 9-6 to the Rockhurst Hawks as part of the Teri Mathis-Zenner Tournament Friday afternoon.

Game One
The Lions (6-5) allowed a run in the top of the first, but then scored two in their half of the inning and followed up with three runs in the third and four more in the fifth towards a seven-run victory over William Jewell (5-5).

Sophomore pitcher Abby Atkin (4-1) limited the Cardinals to one run on five hits while striking out five on the way to her fourth victory of the season.

Freshman outfielder Sidnie Hurst led the Lions with three hits in four opportunities, including a triple and three runs scored. Fellow freshman Josie Tofpi registered a 2-for-3 line for two RBIs and a run cross while senior Lexi Ferrari smashed a three-run home run in the fifth inning to round out the scoring for Southern.

Game Two

Southern jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning when Angel Badalamenti singled in two and Ashley Caldarella doubled to knock in Badalamenti to close out the inning.

Rochkurst (7-4) responded with four runs of its own in the top of the third to tie the game heading into the bottom half, but the Lions came back to plate two in their half of the third to go up 6-4 at the conclusion of three.

The Hawks once again tied it up a 6-6 on a two-RBI single to begin the fifth and then took the lead on a three-run bomb to left field which would seal the deal for the win two innings later.

Badalamenti finished the game 4-for-4 while Caldarella added a 2-for-4 stand as both knocked in two runners and scored once in the loss.

Next Up
The Lions prepare to face cross-state rival Pittsburg State for the first doubleheader of MIAA competition this next Friday, Mar. 8 at 2:00 pm inside the Pat Lipira SB Complex.