With its losing streak no longer looming, the Missouri State baseball team (20-26, 5-13 MVC) plays a pair of non-conference foes in the midweek before hosting Indiana State this weekend in Nissouri Valley Conference play. Oral Roberts (28-15) makes the return trip to Springfield at 7 p.m. Tuesday after defeating the Bears 7-4 on March 7. Missouri State goes for the season sweep of Kansas (22-28) Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Lawrence after a 7-2 victory at Hammons Field on March 27.

The Bears' offense is beginning to click with a .304 batting average and 19 extra base hits in the last five games, while the pitching staff has a 3.89 ERA over that same span.

Oral Roberts is 28-15 this season and atop the Mid-Continent Conference with an 11-1 league record. A very formidable team at home, the Golden Eagles have proved easier to deal with on the road, posting an 8-13 record away from Tulsa.

Brendan Duffy (.349-0-25) and Jake Kahaulelio (.301-3-30) are the only ORU regulars batting above .300 for an offense that hits .277 but has slugged 40 home runs. First baseman Chad Rothford has 11 round-trippers and a .532 slugging percentage.

The pitching staff has an ERA of 3.64 and Marcus Tackett (3-2, 4.71) will likely get the ball on Tuesday. Utility pitcher Chance Chapman is among the nation's leaders with a 1.27 ERA, and has a 5-1 record in five starts and 13 relief appearances.

Kansas is 22-28 this year and 8-15 in the Big 12. John Allman (.331-3-33) and Kyle Murphy (.314-4-24) lead an offense that bats .273, and Brock Simpson is the team's RBI leader with 36 despite a .251 average.

The pitchers have a 4.55 ERA and allow opponents to hit .275. Paul Smyth has been the most reliable arm in the bullpen with a 1.74 ERA and six saves in 29 outings.

The Jayhawk defense fields .962.

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.

The ORU game can be heard on KBFL (1060 AM) in Springfield.

THE SERIES

ORU holds a substantial 23-8 lead in the all-time series and has won the last two meetings. On March 7 in Tulsa, the Golden Eagles won 7-4, coming back from a 4-2 deficit and scoring the clinching runs on Brian Van Kirk's seventh-inning three-run homer.

Missouri State holds a slight 21-19 edge in the all-time series with Kansas. The Bears have won four of the last five meetings, including a 7-2 win in Springfield on March 27. Ben Woodbury was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and Tim Clubb earned the win with 7.1 innings in the start.

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 861-528 (.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.

Missouri State dropped two of three at Evansville, but snapped its 14-game losing streak with a 13-2 victory Sunday.

Shane Elenz hit a three-run homer in the eighth and the Bears exploded for seven more runs in the ninth for the victory.

The Bears hit four home runs on the weekend, a remarkable feat since the UE staff had allowed one homer at Braun Stadium this season and only eight overall.

Ross Detwiler had a no-hitter through four innings of Friday's game and was leading 4-1 thanks to Tanner Mattson's grand slam, but thunderstorms rolled through Indiana and forced the game to be suspended until Saturday. The Aces scored four quick runs to take a 5-4 lead, but the Bears answered to make it 6-5 entering the bottom of the ninth. Austin Todd was working on four scoreless innings of relief until an error on out No. 27 gave UE an extra chance, and Pat Tumilty took advantage with a two-run walk-off single for a 7-6 win.

On Saturday, errors doomed the Bears again as Scott Carroll threw a complete game but suffered the loss and four of his five runs were unearned. Trailing 5-3 in the ninth, Nolan Keane delivered a solo homer and Shane Elenz doubled but was stranded at second as the tying run.

Missouri State's three starters finished with a 0.93 ERA for the three games.

QUICK HITS

According to the NCAA stats through April 29, Missouri State ranks in the top 35 in the following categories:

10th in double plays per game (1.14)

33rd in strikeouts per nine innings (7.8)

Ross Detwiler appears among the NCAA leaders in the following categories:

59th in ERA (2.42)

24th in strikeouts/nine innings (10.7)

38th in strikeouts (80)

The Bears ended their losing streak at 14 games with a 13-2 win at Evansville Sunday. The previous long was seven games in 2005. Why did MSU lose games in a row? Below are some statistics that help explain it:

Hit .245 as a team

Fielded .947 with 28 errors

Opponents fielded .983

Hit .221 with runners on base

Hit .214 with runners in scoring position

Averaged 3.5 runs per game

Ten of 14 games decided by one or two runs

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 5-16 in games decided by two runs or less.

Shane Elenz is hitting .481 (13-27) in the last seven games with a career-best seven-game hitting streak. He is slugging .815 with an on-base percentage of .563, reaching safely 18 times in seven games.

Missouri State's middle infielders have carried the offensive load in league contests, with Tanner Mattson (.352) and Matt Lawson (.347) atop the team's batting statistics.

Lawson is a .353 hitter in 54 career MVC contests.

Missouri State is outscoring opponents 41-15 in the first inning.

MSU has scored 18 ninth inning runs this season, with half coming in the Evansville series.

Nolan Keane is batting .462 (18-39) in the first inning this season while drawing an additional six walks for a .533 on-base percentage. He has come to the plate 45 times in the first inning.

Missouri State has been hot this season in the fifth and sixth frames, batting a combined .330 with 13 homers in those middle innings.

The Bears' top two starters, Ross Detwiler and Scott Carroll, have a combined ERA of 2.63 in 137 innings but are just 7-7 and the team is 8-13 when they start.

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 219 batters in his career.

The Bears are hitting .400 (22-55) with two outs in the last four games.

Ben Woodbury recently went 83 at bats and 100 total plate appearances without striking out, the longest such streak in the MVC 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 Josh Dew of Troy, who is averaging 13.6. 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.

Since allowing 10 runs in his first outing of the season, Clubb has a 2.88 ERA and .252 opponent average in 65.2 innings since.

Missouri State has turned 52 double plays this season. Second baseman Matt Lawson ranks second in the MVC as a part in 43 of them, and leads the nearest non-first baseman by eight.

Lawson already ranks sixth in MSU history with 350 career assists and ninth with 87 double plays.

The Bears tied a school record with five sacrifice flies in the victory against SEMO on April 3.

Missouri State has a .357 (20-56) batting average with the bases loaded and has walloped three grand slams.

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 1.31 and opponent batting average of .145 in true road games.