Senior leadership is important to any team. The Missouri Southern baseball team is no different, and with leaders like senior pitcher Nick Davis, the Lions consider themselves lucky.

With an overall record at Southern of 12-4 and an ERA in the mid-threes as of May 2, Davis was a real find for coach Warren Turner and the Lions.

After spending two years playing at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, Davis was looking for a place to play his final two years of college baseball. The fact he had suffered a back injury in his sophomore year left him with a short list of interested four-year colleges.

“My athletic director at Southwestern knew coach Turner, and he put in a good word for me,” Davis said. “After that, I visited Southern, and I knew right off that this was the place for me.”

Coming to Southern as a junior college transfer, Davis was looking forward to a higher level of competition and better overall instruction. He received more than he hoped for in that area saying the experienced Southern coaching staff and the MIAA competition was better than he could have imagined.

He had also been told Turner did not especially like signing transfer players, and his first year was a kind of trial for signing several transfers. He found himself in the new position of having to reestablish himself after two years of college baseball.

“I felt like even though I was one of the older players, I had to start all over and ease into the program, but players like Jeremy McMullen and Danny Pinkerton made it easy for me start over,” Davis said. “Just through their excitement for the game, day in and day out, I felt like I was in a good place.”

By the time the season was under way, some of the younger players on the team were looking up to Davis and going to him for help and advice.

The on-field transition was not the only one Davis had to make. He also found himself in a new town a long way from his home in Iowa. But he found that the families of the local players were willing to offer their friendship and open their homes to him.

“Being so far away from home, I would get a little homesick sometimes, and having those people there to welcome me in with open arms really helped me a lot,” Davis said.

There are several experiences that stand out in Davis’ memory. Among those is last year’s conference game against Pitt State in which he held the Gorillas scoreless after the Lions fell behind early and eventually got the win.

“That game is the one game that really stands out, but what I will really take away from my experience here is family atmosphere that we have on the team,” Davis said. “We are just so close, and Coach Turner really stressed that.”

The only regret Davis has from his two years at Southern is he was unable to get more out of the weight program in his first year because of his back injury. He believes if he had that opportunity, it could have only helped him on the field.

For the future, Davis is hoping to get drafted in June, but if that does not work out for him, he will sign with an independent league team this summer. Either way, Davis intends to continue to play baseball and hopefully have a chance someday to give a little back to the program that has helped him out so much.

“I could not ask for anything more than what I got from Southern,” Davis said.

“I learned more in two years here than I did in the previous six years because of the great coaching staff and my teammates. I only have good things to say about the team and the program. I was very lucky to get to play here.”