The Missouri State baseball team (19-24, 4-11 MVC) steps out of conference but stays on the road this week, traveling to Saint Louis (11-33) on Tuesday at 3 p.m. and Missouri (31-12) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Bears will look to snap their 12-game losing streak against two foes they have seen already this season, with a win over SLU and a loss to Missouri.
THE OPPONENTS
Saint Louis enters Wednesday's game with an 11-33 overall record and is 2-9 against Missouri Valley Conference opponents. Tom Pinnell (.316-1-12) and Greg Rodgers (.305-2-22) are the only regulars hitting above .300 for an offense that bats .249 as a unit.
The Billikens have a solid weekend rotation, but the bullpen has struggled most of the season leading to a staff ERA of 5.48 and opponent batting average of .314.
Saint Louis made the 2006 NCAA Tournament after winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.
The Bears beat SLU 9-1 on March 28 in Springfield with Chris Mackey throwing six innings of four-hit ball and Brayden Drake going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a homer.
Missouri is 31-12 overall and is ranked 21st this week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Tigers are 12-6 in the Big 12 and have won six of seven games beginning with a 3-1 win over MSU April 17 in Springfield.
The pitching staff has an ERA of 3.94 and is averaging just 2.7 walks per nine innings. Opponents are hitting .255 off MU pitching. Ian Berger (3-1, 3.77) will get the ball on Wednesday.
The Tiger offense bats .282 and is led by Evan Frey (.357-2-25) and Ryan Lollis (.317-3-41). Frey has a team-best five triples and Lollis leads the team in RBIs. Missouri batters have been hit by a remarkable 84 pitches this season.
A solid defensive unit fields .971.
LIVE STATS INFORMATION
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.
RADIO INFORMATION
Wednesday's game at Missouri can be heard on KBFL (99.9 FM/1060 AM) in Springfield.
THE SERIES
Missouri State is 39-9 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, and the Bears won 9-1 in Springfield on March 28.
The series with Missouri is tied 18-18 in 36 all-time meetings. The Bears lost this year's first meeting, 3-1 in Springfield, but have won six of the last nine overall.
COACH KEITH GUTTIN
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 860-526 (.620). 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.
LAST WEEK
Missouri State's losing streak went to 12 games with a conference sweep at the hands of Southern Illinois in Carbondale. The Salukis won all three games by two runs, 5-3, 6-4 and 10-8.
On Friday, SIU tagged Ross Detwiler for five runs and nine hits in 3.2 innings before Pat Doyle tossed 4.1 perfect innings of relief. Saluki pitchers held the Bears scoreless after the third inning, however.
SIU scored three in the second on Saturday and held on for a 6-4 win despite MSU out-hitting the Salukis 11-9.
The Bears scored seven in the fifth on Sunday and looked poised to hold on to the 7-2 lead for the win, but SIU answered with two in the fifth and five in the seventh before Bryant George earned his third save of the series.
QUICK HITS
According to the NCAA stats released April 24, Missouri State ranks in the top 30 in the following categories:
Fifth in double plays per game (1.2)
28th in strikeouts per nine innings (7.9)
Ross Detwiler appears among the NCAA leaders in the following categories:
29th in ERA (1.85)
18rd in strikeouts/nine innings (11.1)
26th in strikeouts (78)
Missouri State is 18 hits away from recording No. 20,000 in the 44-year history of the program.
The Bears are currently mired in the longest losing streak in school history, 12 games. The previous long was seven games in 2005. Why has MSU lost 12 games in a row? Below are some statistics that help explain it:
Hitting .241 as a team
Fielding .950 with 23 errors
Opponents are fielding .982
Hitting .211 with runners on base
Hitting .204 with runners in scoring position
Averaging 3.25 runs per game
16 of the 39 runs came in just three innings
Team ERA of 5.26 with 53 walks
The last time a Missouri State team lost at least seven games in a row, it rebounded to win the final 11 games of the 2005 season.
Missouri State is 5-14 in games decided by two runs or less.
Shane Elenz is hitting .571 (8-14) in the last four games, slugging .929 and getting on base two-thirds of time. He has reached safely 12 times in the last four games.
Kyle Paul is hitting .386 (32-83) over the last 26 games. The junior has a .375 (18-48) average as a catcher and a .400 (14-35) average as the team's designated hitter over that span.
Missouri State is outscoring opponents 40-15 in the first inning.
Nolan Keane is batting .500 (18-36) in the first inning this season while drawing an additional six walks for a .571 on-base percentage. He has come to the plate 42 times in the first inning.
Missouri State pitching recently had a streak of 65.2 innings from April 6-20 without allowing a home run.
The Bears bullpen had an even more impressive homerless streak, going 88 innings over a stretch of 32 games from March 7 to April 22 without allowing a long ball.
Ross Detwiler's streak of 14 starts going at least six innings and allowing three earned runs or fewer ended April 27 at Southern Illinois. Detwiler had an ERA of 1.53 with 120 strikeouts in 102 innings, and an opponent average of .169, in those 14 starts.
The 3.2 inning start at SIU was also the first time in 20 appearances he did not make it 5.2 innings.
Detwiler recently moved into seventh place on Missouri State's career strikeouts list. He has fanned 214 batters in his career.
Ben Woodbury recently went 83 at bats and 100 total plate appearances without striking out, the longest such streak in the MVC this season.
Ryan Mantle has 14 RBIs in 15 league games and 10 RBIs in the first inning this season.
Matt Frevert is averaging 16.0 strikeouts per nine innings this season, posting a 0.50 ERA with three saves in 11 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.
This year's leader is David Price of Vanderbilt, who is averaging 13.3. Again, Frevert has not logged enough innings to qualify for this statistic.
Frevert has pitched eight separate ninth innings this season, allowing just two hits to go with 14 strikeouts in those appearances.
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.
Missouri State has turned 49 double plays this season. Second baseman Matt Lawson ranks second in the MVC as a part in 41 of them, and leads the nearest non-first baseman by seven.
The Bears tied a school record with five sacrifice flies in the victory against SEMO on April 3.
Missouri State has a .346 (18-52) batting average with the bases loaded. Nolan Keane is 4-for-6 with a grand slam in that situation.
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 1.80 and opponent batting average of .125 in true road games.
