Off to the best start in school history, the Lions (13-1, 8-0 MIAA) have been able to do no wrong in the early going behind the arms of a dominant pitching staff.

But after suffering the first loss of the season (6-5) to Missouri S&T, a lower grade of competition, Southern looks to establish itself with victories in this weekend’s four-game series against Emporia State (7-5, 4-4 MIAA) at Joe Becker Stadium.

“Obviously pitching will continue to be a big key to our success,” said senior Josh Engler. “We just need to stick to the fundamentals, do our jobs, and play solid MSSU baseball.”

Last week’s games against Fort Hays went the same way as the majority of Southern’s previous contests this year, as the Lions relied on early runs and top-notch pitching to pull of their third straight sweep of the young season.

The first three of four box scores were littered with Southern hits as the Lions complied a total of 39 hits and 26 runs before being held to only four hits and two runs in the final contest of the series.

The Lions still won the game thanks to a stellar performance by senior starting pitcher Ryan Bates who went seven innings while allowing only one run and six hits.

Also showing promise out of the bullpen has been senior Stephen Vaughn, a player who suffered a freak off-the-field shoulder injury last season, but has returned to collect three saves and 15 strikeouts in only 11 and a third innings.

Leading Southern has been top starting pitcher David Reese who, after a complete game one-hit shutout in which he struck out nine, was recognized as the MIAA Pitcher of the Week.

Now with a 3-0 record on the year, Reese continues to show why he is the top starter in the Lions rotation. Giving up only three earned runs this season in 17 innings, all while striking out 20 and walking only two.

Southern and Reese move further into the meat of their season and the team continues working to fine tune their game, all while keeping the green and gold on top of the conference standings.

“We have to come out to play and leave everything on the field,” said senior Beau Phillips. “We have a solid team this year and the talent to beat anyone.”

The start for the Lions has been enough to gain recognition from multiple Division II polls. Southern comes in at No. 14 on the Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll, as well as third in the Baseball Writers Central Regional poll and 22nd on the d2baseballnews.com poll, making this the first time since 2012 that Southern has been ranked in the opening polls.

As the Lions move forward this year the road will undoubtedly grow increasingly bumpy, but that is where leadership comes into play, and that Southern has.

“We just have to play better and cut out the mistakes,” said Drew Noble. “Emporia is our first real test in the MIAA and we need those wins.”

The games get underway at Joe Becker Stadium at noon today, the first game of the day’s double header.