There may never be a good time to have to face one of the nation’s Top-10 teams. For the Missouri Southern baseball team, this weekend is that time.

After splitting with Washburn University, the Lions will head to Emporia, KS this weekend to face the No. 9 team in the country.

“Going into last week they were ranked No. 1 in the country,” Head Coach Bryce Darnell said. “So they’re as good as D-2 baseball has to offer, just like Central Missouri. We’ll play them tough, we’ll give good effort, we always have. Last year we went up there and split with them in a time that we needed to do that, and hopefully if we can get that kind of effort and that kind of play, we’ll match up with them.”

Mentioning Central Missouri, ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation this season, and the Hornets, Darnell says although the MIAA is as difficult a conference as there is around, the Lions don’t worry about anyone but themselves.

The fourth-year head coach says small mental errors such as giving away outs on the basepaths and have troubled his team thus far in 2011.

“When you’re playing seven-inning games, every out counts,” he said. “So we have to eliminate those things [unforced errors]. As we move towards Emporia on Friday, they’re a quality team and they’re a team that doesn’t do those things. They’re going to be tough to beat as it is and if we do those things they’re going to be doubly tough.”

In a four-game set with Washburn last weekend, the Lions’ pitching was knocked around giving up 37 runs over the weekend. The Lions also scored 37 of their own however, earning a split with the Ichabods.

In game one, Cody Griebling was touched for six earned runs in only two and two-thirds innings as the Southern offense couldn’t dig out of the early hole and dropped the opener 12-7.

In the second game, eight first-inning runs helped the Lions fend off a late rally as Washburn scored three times in the top of the ninth before Austin Brown shut the door securing the 12-11 victory.

In Sunday’s first game, another Lions’ starting pitcher was hit hard as Ryan Wheat gave up six runs in four innings pitched. Though Southern scored once in the bottom of the ninth, it could not complete the comeback, falling 8-7.

In the finale, Southern used a Dane Kolkmeyer grand slam to score six runs in the sixth and propel to an 11-6 split-securing  victory.