As the Missouri Southern baseball team enters the final stretch of the season before the conference tournament, they stand with a record of 26-14 with a 16-13 record in conference, which is currently good enough for fifth in the MIAA. That is by no means something to be ashamed of, as there is a team in the conference such as Lincoln who is 1-38 (0-16 road) on the year and 0-29 in conference play. 

Teams would die to have the record that Southern has composed so far but there is a sense of disappointment around the club because of the expectations that they placed on themselves after making a deep run into the postseason last year. 

Jesse Rall, senior designated hitter and first baseman, thinks that the Lions haven’t shown their true potential yet. 

“We feel like we should win,” said Rall. “This year we aren’t having as great of a year as we did last year and that’s because we have the expectation of being the best team on the field every day.” 

Great teams who expect to win championships have to hold themselves to higher standards because their goals are so much loftier then the average teams. Southern is now focused on living up to those standards.

With 11 games remaining on the schedule before the Lions head into the conference tournament, there is plenty of time for them to turn it around and finish this season of strong. Luckily for them all 11 games are against conference opponents  ranked no higher than eighth in the conference with three of those games coming against the aforementioned Lincoln Blue Tigers on Warren Turner Field. 

If this team can start living up to the goals that they have made for themselves it would help their chances of a high seed in the conference tournament tremendously. 

Baseball is an unpredictable sport; tournament play is all about getting hot at the right time. Even though this year’s team hasn’t accomplished all that they wanted to yet there is still a number of big games to play and at that point, who knows how it’s all going to end.