The 2008 Missouri State baseball schedule has been completed and includes a total of 56 games as the Bears move into their fifth season at Hammons Field. The schedule features 28 home dates and 28 road games, as well as 13 games against teams that qualified for the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

The Bears will have weekend home series against Iowa (March 7-9), Northern Colorado (March 14-16) and Middle Tennessee State (May 9-11), as well as three-game series against Missouri Valley Conference foes Creighton (March 21-23), Southern Illinois (March 28-30), Evansville (April 11-13) and Illinois State (April 25-27). The 2008 schedule also includes a home-and-home series with Missouri, Arkansas, Saint Louis, Oral Roberts and Kansas.

The Bears will begin the season against Dallas Baptist for the second season in a row, and will also play Texas-Arlington and Arkansas-Little Rock in Arlington, Texas, during the opening weekend.

Missouri State has two-game midweek series scheduled against Arkansas State at home (March 18-19) and at Southeast Missouri State (March 25-26), and will play one game at Oklahoma State on March 11.

The Bears will conclude the season on the road with a three-game series at UNI before heading to Wichita for the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship, May 21-24.

Missouri State will begin its home season Friday, March 7, against Iowa at 3:00 p.m. at Hammons Field. Ticket information can be obtained by calling the Missouri State athletics box office at (417) 836-7678.

The 2008 season will be the Bears’ 26th year in Division I and also the 26th season for Bears’ head coach Keith Guttin, who enters the year with a 864-536 career record. It’s the 18th season for Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bears were 23-34 last season.