The Missouri State baseball team (14-9, 2-1 MVC) closes its five-game homestand Wednesday at 7 p.m. with Saint Louis (5-20) before heading to Illinois State (9-12, 0-3) this weekend for the first MVC road test of the year. Game times for the Friday through Sunday series with the Redbirds are 3 p.m., 2 p.m. and 1 p.m.

THE OPPONENTS

Saint Louis enters Wednesday's game with a 5-20 overall record and is 2-6 against Missouri Valley Conference opponents. The Billikens are also 0-13 on the road. Tom Pinnell (.380-0-8) and Greg Rodgers (.314-0-13) are the only regulars hitting above .300 for an offense that bats .255 as a unit.

Outside of the regular weekend rotation of Ryan Bird, Dave Sever and Eric Rohr, who all have ERAs at 4.30 or below and account for 111.1 of 219 innings pitched, the staff has an ERA of 8.28.

Saint Louis made the 2006 NCAA Tournament after winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

Illinois State is 9-12 entering Wednesday's home game against Iowa. The Redbirds opened MVC play last week at Southern Illinois and lost all three games. Infielder Ryan Anetsberger is hitting an even .400 and slugging .588 with a team-best 17 RBIs. The Redbirds hit .282 as a club.

The weekend rotation will likely include Eric Theisen (1-4, 4.75), Luke Baughman (0-2, 5.97) and Mike Hlavacek (1-0, 3.72). Jim Sajewich has been the top arm out of the bullpen with a 1.42 ERA in 10 appearances.

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.

All three games of the Illinois State series will be on KBFL (99.9 FM/1060 AM) in Springfield. Rob Evans will be on the call.

Missouri State is 38-9 all-time against Saint Louis, its best record against any opponent with at least 40 meetings. The teams have split the season series the past two years.

The Bears are 46-31 against Illinois State and have won 10 games in a row in the series. MSU has only lost one MVC series in eight tries in Normal.

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 855-511 (.626). 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.

Missouri State opened the Missouri Valley Conference season with a series victory at home against Northern Iowa and defeated Kansas on Tuesday.

In Friday's game, Ross Detwiler struck out 12 Panthers and Brayden Drake hit a solo home run in the second to put the Bears up for good. MSU tagged UNI ace Aaron Jenkins for three more runs in the sixth, and a Panther rally in the eighth was stopped after three runs to preserve a 4-3 win.

On Saturday, the Bears loaded the bases with no outs in the first and Ryan Mantle hit a grand slam as part of a six-run first. UNI tied the game at 6-6 after three, and eventually scored on a passed ball in the 10th to win 9-8.

In the rubber match, Missouri State got seven innings from Jake Shafer and pulled ahead 11-1 after five innings before winning 12-7. Nine players scored runs and eight had RBIs, led by Tanner Mattson's three hits and two runs.

Against Kansas on Tuesday, Nolan Keane doubled home Ben Woodbury in the first and the Bears never looked back. Woodbury added a three-run homer in the fifth and Tim Clubb threw 7.1 innings of four-hit ball for the win.

QUICK HITS

Missouri State is outscoring opponents 22-6 in the first inning.

Ross Detwiler has gone 10 straight starts without allowing more than three earned runs, going at least 6.2 innings in each of those outings dating back to five starts last season. Detwiler has an ERA of 1.18 with 86 strikeouts in 76 innings, while opponents are batting just .136 against him, in those 10 starts.

According to Boyd's World, among the pitchers who have met the NCAA standard of innings pitched (one per team game), Detwiler ranks second in the country in batting average against (.137)

Missouri State has turned an MVC-best 29 double plays this season and has hit into just 10.

Opponents are hitting .225 off the Missouri State bullpen.

Tanner Mattson has played remarkable defense at shortstop this season, commiting only two errors so far. The senior has improved dramatically in the field, upping his defensive efficiency from .924 last season to .977 this year.

The MSU pitching staff is limiting opponents to a .221 batting average at Hammons Field.

Missouri State is currently tied for the 14th-longest road winning streak in the country at three in a row, according to warrennolan.com

Bears hitters have been hit by a mere 11 pitches this season. For comparison, Boyd's World lists 18 individuals who have been beaned at least 11 times.

Speedy leadoff man Ben Woodbury has wreaked havoc on opposing defenses, reaching base on errors six times already. With the errors factored in, his on-base percentage would jump to .453.

Missouri State hit two grand slams last week, one by Nolan Keane and the other by Ryan Mantle. Prior to Keane's MSU had gone nearly three years without one.

Matt Lawson is batting .464 (13-28) with runners in scoring position and is tied with Ben Woodbury for a team-best eight two-out RBIs.

Missouri State is hitting .304 as a team with runners in scoring position, compared to .230 for opponents.

Opposing hitters are 0-for-22 this season when facing Buddy Baumann with two outs. Teams are hitting .197 against the Bears with two outs on the board.

Tim Clubb's complete-game and shutout against Arkansas State on 3/20 were the first by an MSU freshman since Brett Sinkbeil versus Indiana State in 2004. Sinkbeil's was in a seven-inning game.

After allowing 10 runs in his first outing of the year, Clubb has rebounded to go 3-0 with a 3.03 ERA and a .254 batting average against in 29.2 innings since.

Of the last 62 batters Clubb has faced, only three have advanced beyond second base.

The Bears' offense struck out at least seven times in each of the first nine games, but has only reached that mark twice in the last 14.

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

Ben Carlson hit two home runs against Arkansas State (3/21) to become the first Bear with two homers in a game since March 3, 2006.

Carlson added a single and a double for 11 total bases, the most since February 2003.

Austin Todd has an ERA of 1.08 and opponent batting average of .077 in true road games.

Carlson is hitting .480 and slugging 1.080 in seven road games this season.

Matt Frevert is averaging 16.1 strikeouts per nine innings this season, posting a 0.64 ERA with three saves in seven 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 pitched eight separate ninth innings this season, allowing just two hits to go with 14 strikeouts in those appearances.