Missouri State

LARRY GOESSLING
Baseball, 197778
Inducted 2012

Larry Goessling transferred to Missouri State from Mineral Area Junior College in 1977 and played on Bears' teams which advanced to NCAA Division II tournament play both his MSU years for coach Bill Rowe. A native of St. Charles, Mo., Goessling was a catcher and designated hitter who had a solid year as a junior as he caught fire at the plate during the conference portion of the season and finished with a .376 batting mark to land a spot on the MIAA all-league first team and the all-district second team. Goessling batted .508 from April 10 to the end of the season as the Bears reached the Mankato (Minn.) regional tourney. He was then the slugging backbone of the Bears' NCAA regional champion and Division II World Series team in 1978 as Missouri State chalked up a school record 28 wins in 38 games. Goessling was the Bears' team MVP and led MSU and the MIAA in games (38), homers (10), RBI's (37) and total bases (84) as he batted .377 for his second straight all-MIAA first team selection. His totals for homers, RBI's and total bases were the second best MSU single season totals on record at that time. He had two-homer games in wins over Arkansas and Southwest Baptist and became the first Missouri State player ever to hit for the cycle in a game in the Bears' win over Northwest Missouri State in the regional. Goessling was also the conference regular season MVP and regional tournament MVP as the Bears' swept to the regional title at Meador Park to qualify for the Division II World Series in Springfield, Ill. Goessling later added Division II all-region and second team All-America honors. Goessling works as a police officer in Maryland Heights in suburban St. Louis with specific emphasis in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program and is a past recipient of the state's DARE Officer of the Year Award.