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MSSU baseball readies for MIAA tournament series with PSU

jared porter, the joplin globe, mo.
·4 min read

May 5—The stage is set for the 2022 MIAA Baseball Championship.

Sixth-seeded Missouri Southern (28-21) will meet third-seeded Pittsburg State (29-18) in a three-game series this weekend in Pittsburg, Kansas, for the first round of the conference tournament.

The first game of the series is slated for 6 p.m. Friday at Al Ortolani Field. Game 2 is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, and an if-necessary game will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. if the first two contests result in a split.

The Lions are looking to make some noise in the MIAA tourney to better their odds of making the NCAA Division II Central Regional Tournament. The most recent D2 rankings have Southern positioned in 10th place while PSU is slotted eighth. Fellow MIAA members Central Missouri and Northeastern State are ranked first and sixth, respectively.

A total of eight teams will advance to the regional tournament later this month.

"Pittsburg State is probably thinking the same thing, but we probably need to make it to the final four to maximize our chances of making the regional," MSSU head coach Bryce Darnell said. "I'm not sure how many MIAA teams will ultimately go to the tournament. It might be a stretch to get four in there, but I like to think that three will go for sure.

"We just have to play as good as we can this weekend and let that stuff handle itself."

Southern went 1-2 against PSU in a regular-season series in late February at Warren Turner Field. The Gorillas picked up wins of 10-4 and 21-8 before the Lions picked up a 14-2 triumph in the series finale.

"They're a really good offensive team," Darnell said of PSU. "They're probably a lot like us. ... Statistically speaking, they're really good offensively just like we're good offensively. I feel like the series will come down to who can get the most outs and who can get more out of their bullpen. But overall, they're a good team and they're going to be really hard to handle. We'll have to be at the top of our game."

PSU and MSSU rank third and fourth, respectively, in the MIAA with team batting averages of .324 and .311 this season.

Southern has six starters hitting better than .300 in Tommy Stevenson (.396), Matt Miller (.356), Henry Kusiak (.346), Nate Mieszkowski (.333), Clay Milas (.330) and Ryan Doran (.310).

Stevenson, who's been limited over the course of the season due to injuries, has hit 15 home runs in 37 game appearances to tie Miller for the team-high in the category.

"We are getting a little bit healthier with Tommy being able to play," Darnell said. "He'll play first base, and obviously that's a big boost offensively for us. He's still not quite moving like he once was, but he'll be serviceable."

Miller has appeared in 47 games for MSSU this season and leads the team in home runs, doubles (18) and RBI (61).

"Matt is an outstanding athlete and he'll play right field on Friday for us," Darnell said. "He's a bigger guy but he can move and handle his body really well. The year he had last year wasn't up to his standard, but he's come back and had an all-conference type of year for us. ... He's done so well in so many areas."

The MSSU pitching staff sports a team ERA of 5.97. Starter Logan VanWey is 6-3 this season with a 3.84 ERA and an MIAA-leading 113 strikeouts. Jacob Davis is 5-1 through nine starts, and Cole Woods is 3-5 through 12 starts.

Cale McCallister, Laif Hultine, Ryan Paschal and Scott Duensing have also been frequently used out of the Lions' bullpen.

The PSU offense is led by Garrett McGowan, who is hitting .410 this season with 77 total hits, 19 doubles and 16 homers. Seven other Gorillas are hitting better than .300 in Mason Hartman (.373), Caleb Carr (.353), Jordan Maxson (.349), Brett Daley (.320), Cruz Aranda (.318), Kaden Fowler (.308) and Austin Bonnel (.306).

Peyton Ingalls has made a team-high 13 starts for PSU and is 7-1 on the year with a 5.59 ERA. Tanner Lane is 4-5 through 10 starts, and Jordan Mendenhall is the team's top reliever with a 4.05 ERA through 26 2/3 innings.

Other first-round matchups in the MIAA tournament will include top-seeded Central Missouri hosting eighth-seeded Emporia State, second-seeded Northeastern State hosting seventh-seeded Rogers State and fourth-seeded Central Oklahoma hosting fifth-seeded Washburn.

The four series victors in the first round will meet at UCO's Wendell Simmons Field in Edmond, Okla., on May 12-14 to finish out the conference tournament.

Contact Jared Porter on Twitter at @JaredRyanPorter.