The 6-7 Missouri State baseball team continues its homestand this weekend with South Dakota State (9-9) at Hammons Field for three games. Game times are 3 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. The Bears are 3-1 at home so far this season, and begin a stretch of nine games in 10 days on Friday.

South Dakota State is 9-9 on the season coming off a 13-4 win at Creighton Tuesday afternoon. The Jackrabbit offense is led by Tyson Fisher (.395-0-6) and Nick Adams (.377-4-16), who pace an attack that bats .288.

The pitching staff has a 3.61 ERA and .247 opponent batting average. Starter Matt Bowman (1-1, 1.69 ERA) and reliever Kevin Morsching (3-1, 2.45) lead a group of solid arms that has surrendered just 29 extra base hits in 18 games.

SDSU has defeated Missouri Valley Conference teams Creighton and Indiana State, and took one-of-three from Kansas inside the Metrodome in a series that featured a doubleheader starting at 1:42 a.m. and a single game at 4:20 a.m. the next morning.

Live stats for all Missouri State baseball games will be available at www.missouristatebears.com. Just click "Live Stats" on the left side of the page and select the appropriate game.

The South Dakota State radio broadcast can be accessed online at

http://www3.sdstate.edu/Athletics/Broadcasts/Index.cfm

Missouri State and South Dakota State have never met on the baseball diamond. MSU is 11-0 all-time against Dakota schools, however.

Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin (Missouri-St. Louis, 1978) is in his 25th season as head coach of the baseball Bears and has a career record of 847-509 (.625). Guttin became the first coach at Missouri State (in any sport) to reach the 800-win mark with the May 11, 2005, win over Kansas at Hammons Field. In 2003, Guttin led the Bears to the NCAA Division I College World Series for the first time in school history. Guttin has been a conference Coach of the Year nine times with three of those coming in the Valley and six coming during the Bears’ years in the Mid-Continent Conference. During Guttin’s tenure, the Bears have made seven Division I NCAA Tournament appearances -- six in the last 12 years.

The Bears spent the weekend in Minneapolis, going 1-2 against the University of Minnesota inside the Metrodome before returning home for a 6-5 victory Tuesday at Hammons Field.

Missouri State was shut out by the Gophers 4-0 on Friday, but rebounded Saturday to win 12-0 on the strength of seven shutout innings by Scott Carroll and eight two-out runs scored by the offense. In the rubber game, Minnesota won 5-4 on a sixth-inning single.

On Tuesday in Springfield, the Bears avenged a loss to Arkansas-Little Rock two weeks ago by defeating the Trojans 6-5 on Matt Lawson's RBI single in the seventh. Missouri State overcame a 3-0 deficit thanks to home runs by Ryan Mantle and Ben Woodbury, and the bullpen tossed four scoreless innings. Matt Frevert struck out all six batters he faced for the save, preserving the win for Pat Doyle.

QUICK HITS

Ross Detwiler has gone eight straight starts without allowing more than two earned runs, going at least 6.2 innings in each of those outings.

The Bears have hit a double in each game this season and 17 games in a row.

Matt Frevert is averaging 19.7 strikeouts per nine innings this season, going 2-0 with two saves in five appearances. The NCAA record for K/9 (based on at least one IP per team game) was set at 16.8 by Ryan Wagner of Houston in 2003.

Frevert has struck out 11 of the last 12 batters he has faced and 19 of 31 for the season.

Shane Elenz hit for the cycle with his first four hits of the season (over four games).

Nearly half (six out of 13) of Missouri State's games have been decided by one run.

More than half (five out of nine) of the Bears' home runs this season have come in the second inning. The Bears slug .650 as a team in the second frame.

According to Boyd's World, among the pitchers who have met the NCAA standard of innings pitched (one per team game), Ross Detwiler ranks in the top four in three categories:

First in doubles allowed (0) (tied with 11 others)

Second in batting average against (.129)

Fourth in fewest hits allowed (9)

Missouri State has turned 20 double plays this season and has hit into just five.

10 SPOT

Missouri State had a streak of 66 consecutive wins when scoring 10 or more runs broken in an 11-10 loss to Texas-Arlington Feb. 23.

The streak was remarkable in that the Bears had strung together five consecutive seasons without losing such a contest, and only put together four undefeated seasons under those circumstances in Coach Guttin's previous 19 seasons as head coach. The Bears are 358-30 (.923) all-time when scoring 10 or more runs under Guttin.

20,000TH HIT

The Missouri State baseball team will likely reach an impressive milestone in this the 44th year in the program's history. The Bears are currently 305 hits away from the 20,000 mark.

HOLDING A LATE LEAD

Missouri State entered 2007 on a 36-game win streak when leading after eight innings. In spite of two stumbles to begin the year, the Bears are still 68-3 since 2004 and 164-5 since 2000 when leading after eight frames.

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEKRoss Detwiler was named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper for his performance against Dallas Baptist on Feb. 22. The junior struck out a career-high 13 in seven innings, allowing just one run on two hits.

Detwiler also won the award last season for his one-hit performance against Creighton in the MVC Tournament, his final appearance of 2006, meaning he was honored nationally for two consecutive outings.

For the second season in a row, the Bears welcome a member of the football team to the pitching staff. Jeff Sargent was a high school All-American as a senior and earned all-state and all-conference honors at Francis Howell High in St. Charles, Mo.

A fullback for Terry Allen in the fall, Sargent caught five passes for 42 yards and returned four kickoffs for 25 yards.

Scott Carroll joined the baseball squad last season after quarterbacking the Bears in 2005.

TOUGH SCHEDULE

The 2007 schedule is dotted with 17 games against teams that participated in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The Bears play five NCAA teams in a row from April 17-22, and follow that with seven games to open the month of May against members of last year’s tournament field.

BEARS IN THE DRAFT

Three Bears currently on the roster have been drafted during their careers. Scott Carroll was picked in the 16th round by the Angels in 2006, and Kyle Paul was chosen in the 41st round last year by Cleveland. Sean Toler was a 24th round selection of Colorado in 2005 after his senior year of high school.

NEW FACES

Missouri State welcomes 13 newcomers to the program this season, including seven freshmen, five transfers and Jeff Sargent from the MSU football squad.

RADIO BROADCASTS

MSU baseball broadcasts will once again air on KWTO and KBFL this season, with a total of 29 regular season games and all postseason action. Art Hains and Rob Evans will describe the action. The first broadcast will originate from Hammons Field on March 23 when the Bears open conference play against UNI.

All broadcasts can be heard live over the internet by visiting www.radiospringfield.com.

A complete listing of this year’s radio broadcasts can be found on page 3.

2,000 GAMES

Missouri State will play its 2,000th game in the 44-year history of the program this season, and is currently 19 contests away from that mark. Nineteen games away on the 2007 schedule is MSU vs. Bradley on April 8 in Springfield. The Bears' all-time record is 1,241-739-1.

KEEP AN EYE ON...

Ross Detwiler and Nolan Keane. Both players appear on preseason watch lists for national awards.

Detwiler is among the candidates for the Roger Clemens Award, given annually to the nation's top pitcher.

Keane appears on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, which is given to the nation's top player.

BE READY FOR A WIN STREAK

Missouri State has shown the ability to put together some impressive winning streaks each of the last two seasons. After a disappointing first 44 games in 2005, the Bears reeled of 11 straight victories to close the season. In 2006, MSU won 10 games in a row in May before falling to Evansville in the MVC Tournament final.

Junior southpaw Ross Detwiler pitched for Team USA over the summer, compiling a 2-0 record and 0.95 ERA over 19 innings for the 28-2 world championship team.

The Bears enter the 2007 campaign picked to finish third in the MVC by the league's coaches. Evansville is the favorite to repeat as champion, followed by Wichita State, which actually received the most first-place votes, getting five to UE's four. Creighton follows MSU in fourth, and UNI and Southern Illinois are projected to round out the MVC Tournament field of six.

PRESEASON ALL-MVC

Three Bears appear on the 14-player preseason all-MVC team. Outfielder Nolan Keane, a first-team pick last year, is expected to repeat his selection. Clay Coulter earned the spot as the league's top catcher after second-team honors last season, and Ross Detwiler rounds out the trio as one of three starting pitchers. Detwiler was an honorable mention all-league pick in 2006.

The Missouri Valley Conference Tournament returns to Hammons Field May 23-26. The tourney is a six-team, double-elimination format with the winner earning the Valley's automatic NCAA bid. MSU also hosted the event in 2004 in its first year at Hammons Field.

HOWARD WINS MORE AWARDS

Former baseball Bear Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies continues to bring home awards after winning National League Rookie of the Year in 2005. Howard, who played at MSU from 1999-2001, was the N.L. MVP in 2006 after slugging 58 homers and driving in 149 runs. He also won the Century 21 Home Run Derby during the All-Star break.

2007 Player Notes

1 Nolan Keane - Named to the Brooks Wallace Award watch list ... Preseason all-MVC ... Had two hits and scored twice at Arkansas-Little Rock (2/27) ... Hit first home run of the year against Middle Tennessee (3/4)

3 Christian Overstreet - Went 1-for-2 with a double at Oral Roberts (3/7)

4 Curt Courtwright - Scored the game-winning run against Arkansas-Little Rock (3/13)

5 Brayden Drake - Southwest Diamond Classic all-tournament ... Went 2-for-5 and scored the game-winning run against Texas-San Antonio (2/24) ... Homered against Middle Tennessee (3/4) ... Had two hits, including a home run, at Oral Roberts (3/7) ... Belted two doubles and went 3-for-4 against Arkansas-Little Rock (3/13)

7 Ryan Mantle - Had two hits and scored twice at Minnesota (3/10) ... Homered versus Arkansas-Little Rock (3/13)

8 Tanner Mattson - Had two hits and scored versus Texas-San Antonio (2/24) ... Put down two sacrifice bunts at Minnesota (3/10) ... Was part of three doubles plays at Minnesota (3/11)

9 Josh Mazzola - Hit the game-winning sacrifice fly versus Dallas Baptist (2/22) ... Tied a school record by being a part of four double play versus Middle Tennessee (3/4)

10 Matt Lawson - Hit two triples and a double and drove in four runs against Texas-Arlington (2/23) ... Tripled and had two RBIs against Middle Tennessee (3/2) ... Was in on six double plays during the Minnesota series ... Hit the game-winning single in the seventh inning against Arkansas-Little Rock (3/13)

11 Scott Carroll - Threw seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out eight in a victory at Minnesota (3/10)

12 Tim Clubb - Made the first start of his career against Texas-San Antonio (2/24) ... Allowed an earned run and struck out three in 3.1 innings at UALR (2/27) ... Went five innings and earned his first career victory at home versus Middle Tennessee (3/4)

15 Ben Carlson - Went 3-for-5 with a walk in his first start, against Texas-San Antonio (2/24) ... Smacked his first career homer and had two RBIs at Oral Roberts (3/7) ... Homered in the Metrodome against Minnesota (3/11)

16 Kyle Paul - Had two hits in three of the season's first four games ... Went 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBIs and three runs scored at Minnesota (3/10)

17 Austin Todd - Threw two perfect innings as part of MSU's shutout at Minnesota (3/10)

18 Ross Detwiler - Pitched for Team USA in the summer of 2006, going 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 19 innings ... Named to the Roger Clemens Award watch list ... Preseason all-MVC ... Baseball America Preseason All-America Second Team ... Southwest Diamond Classic all-tournament ... Struck out 13 in seven innings, allowing two hits and a run against Dallas Baptist (2/22) ... Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week (2/26) ... Insidepitching.com Midwest Region Pitcher of the Week (2/26) ... College Baseball Foundation National Honor Roll (2/27) ... Tossed seven innings of two-hit ball to defeat Middle Tennessee (3/2)

21 Matt Frevert - Threw two perfect innings and struck out four to defeat Texas-San Antonio (2/24) ... Earned the save after striking out four of the five Middle Tennessee batters he faced on March 4 ... Struck out all six batters faced versus Arkansas-Little Rock (3/13) for the save

24 Ben Woodbury - Southwest Diamond Classic MVP ... Went 3-for-4 with a homer and three runs against Texas-Arlington (2/23) ... Had three hits at Minnesota on 3/10 and 3/11 ... Went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer versus Arkansas-Little Rock (3/13)

 

30 Clay Coulter - Preseason all-MVC ... Went 3-for-5 with two RBIs against Gonzaga (2/25) ... Drove in four runs at Minnesota (3/10)

31 Chris Playter - Broke up MTSU pitcher Brad Robinson's no-hitter with a sixth-inning pinch-hit single on March

32 Pat Doyle - Made the first start of his career at Arkansas-Little Rock (2/27) ... Tossed two scoreless frames to earn a win against Arkansas-Little Rock (3/13)

33 Shane Elenz - Hit a three-run homer against Texas-San Antonio (2/24) ... Had a single and two RBIs at Arkansas-Little Rock (2/27) ... Hit the game-winning pinch-hit double in the seventh inning against Middle Tennessee (3/2) ... Began the year on a four-game hit streak, hitting for the cycle with his first four hits

34 Buddy Baumann - Threw 4.2 innings of hitless relief with six strikeouts versus Texas-San Antonio (2/24)

38 Chris Mackey - Threw a scoreless inning as part of the Bears' shutout of Middle Tennessee (3/2)