It took 29 years, but one member of the Lions’ baseball team achieved an exclusive victory.

Head baseball coach, Warren Turner was honored on April 16 for his 800th game victory.

On April 18, Missouri Southern baseball team competed against its rivals, the Pittsburg State University Gorillas. The game started around 5 p.m. and had 100 people in attendance.

The first inning started off with no hits and no runs for the Lions. PSU began the first inning off with two outs. But a homer to the right field, as well as two more runs, put the first inning in the Gorillas’ hands.

At the top of the fourth inning, Southern made a brief comeback as they tied the score 3-3. The first run was scored in the second inning. However, the comeback was brief. The Gorillas fired off six runs and eight hits for the inning.

Southern tried to bring it back, but their attempt was unsuccessful, as they would only score two more point for the game.

The game was ended in the eighth inning according to the run rule following Brad Smith’s, PSU’s third baseman, RBI single. The score of 15-5 ended in the Gorilla’s favor.

On April 16, the Lions played against Missouri Western State University.

The game started off leaning toward the Lions’ favor.

In the first inning, MWSU had one run, and Southern answered back with three runs of its own. In the bottom of the first, the Lions struck out twice, but then brought it back around when Kyle Knight, sophomore right fielder, singled to the center field.

After Jeff Taylor, junior first baseman, walked to first base, Brett Molden, senior shortstop, homered to right center, sending all three players home.

Mike Baso, senior left fielder, would end up on base after he singled to center field, but the inning would end as he was called out between second and third base.

Between the first and third inning, MWSU scored six more runs, taking the score to 7-3. The Lions fought back, and their efforts paid off when they tied the score in the third as they scored four runs.

Although Southern fought back, MWSU played defense and kept the Lions from scoring any more runs. The game ended in MWSU’s favor with a score of 12-7.

It was in between the doubleheader when Turner, was honored due to his 800th career victory on March 5.

Turner, a three-time Conference Coach of the Year and the 1978 NAIA National Coach of the Year, was also inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in January of this year. April 16 was named “Warren Turner Day” by Mayor Phil Stinnett.

“It takes a lot of teams to win 800 wins,” Turner said, “Thanks to family, friends, fans and players. We couldn’t have done it without the players.”

Turner also said since it was Warren Turner Day, there would be nobody receiving speeding tickets and no sales tax either.

The second game started after Turner was given his award. It started at 3:05 p.m. and had 135 people in attendance.

Although the Lions fought hard, they lost the game to MWSU by two points, ending the game with a score of 8-6.

“Errors have been a problem, ” said Landon Harris, junior offensive player. “If we do that [make less errors] we’d be in a good position.”

Southern played in a double-header against Central Missouri State University on April 20. The Lions lost the first game with a score of 7-0.

However, in the next game they received a taste of victory when they won with a score of 7-4.

The Lions will play next at 3 p.m. on Friday against Washburn State University.

They will also compete against WSU at noon on Saturday.