The Missouri State baseball team opens the 2008 season this weekend with three games in the Dallas Metroplex, beginning at Dallas Baptist at 2 p.m., Friday, Feb. 22. The Bears then head to Arlington to play Texas-Arlington at 3 p.m. Saturday and Arkansas-Little Rock Sunday at 11 a.m. in a neutral site contest. This is the first season of the NCAA's uniform starting date for baseball, and programs nationwide will be opening this weekend.

Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin (Missouri-St. Louis, 1978) is in his 26th season as head coach of the baseball Bears and has a career record of 864-536 (.617). 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.

Live stats for most 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.

Dallas Baptist opens the Dan Heefner era with a cast of six returning starters from last year's 30-26 club. DBU will be led by sophomore shortstop Austin Knight in 2008, who opened his career with a .338 average and 43 RBIs as a freshman. The Patriots were a formidable 16-2 at home last season, with two of those wins coming against the Bears.

Texas-Arlington was 13-40 a year ago and returns just 11 letterwinners in 2008. First baseman Danny Slinkmann is the team's top returning hitter after posting a .333 average and 28 RBIs last season, while catcher Mitch Putman hit six homers in 2007 and is UTA's top power threat among the returners.

Arkansas-Little Rock returns 15 lettermen from last season's 21-31 squad, including nine pitchers and two offensive starters. Utility man Robert Taylor will be looked upon to lead the offense in 2008 after hitting .297 with seven homers and 37 RBIs a year ago. On the mound, sophomore lefty Ashur Tolliver returns after finishing his first season with a 6-5 record and 4.45 ERA in 89 innings.

Missouri State is 9-9 all-time against this weekend's opponents.

The Bears are 1-2 against Dallas Baptist, with all three meetings occurring last season. MSU beat the Patriots in the season opener and were swept in an April 14 doubleheader in Dallas.

MSU is 4-6 all-time against UT-Arlington, and faced the Mavericks on Feb. 23 of last season as well, losing 11-10 on a walk-off double.

The Bears hold a 4-1 series edge against Arkansas-Little Rock, and took the season series last year 2-1.

Missouri State finished the 2007 season 23-34 overall record and 7-17 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Bears got as many as six games over .500 with a 15-9 record on March 28, but suffered through a school record 14-game losing streak in April and May.

The Bears put three players on the three all-conference teams (LHP Ross Detwiler, OF Nolan Keane and 2B Matt Lawson), and three more earned MVC Scholar-Athlete honors (Ryan Mantle, Tanner Mattson and Chris Taylor).

Following the year, junior LHP Ross Detwiler became the highest drafted MSU player in history, going sixth overall in the first round to the Washington Nationals. He made his major league debut on Sept. 7, throwing a scoreless inning against Atlanta. Scott Carroll (third round - Cincinnati), Matt Lawson (14th round - Texas) and Jake Shafer (41st round - New York Yankees) also went on to the next level.

Missouri State is 17-8 in season openers under Keith Guttin, and 29-15 overall in the 44-year history of the program.

Missouri State is beginning the season in Texas for the eighth year in a row. MSU played in tournaments in Frisco in 2007, Texas A&M in 2006 and Rice in '05, and began in the Dallas Metroplex each of the previous four seasons at the Texas-Arlington Tournament.

The Bears have opened the season away from Springfield every year since 2000.

QUICK HITS

Last season, leadoff man Ben Woodbury ranked as the 49th most difficult batter to strike out in the NCAA with one every 13.8 at bats. He went 83 at bats and 100 total plate appearances without striking out midway through the 2007 season.

Sophomore starter Tim Clubb allowed 10 runs in his first outing of the 2007 season, but rebounded to post a 3.25 ERA and .248 opponent average in his final 83 innings of the season and lead the team in wins with six as a freshman.

CLOSING IN ON #900

Head Coach Keith Guttin enters the 2008 season with an 864-536 record, leaving him 36 wins short of 900 for his career.

Missouri State welcomes 12 newcomers to the program this season, including seven freshmen and five transfers.

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 84-5 since 2004 and 180-7 since 2000 when leading after eight frames. Below is a look at MSU's success with late-game leads since the beginning of the 2000 campaign:

Leading after Record Pct.

8th inning 181-7 .963

7th inning 193-17 .919

6th inning 198-24 .892

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, 2007.

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 364-30 (.924) all-time when scoring 10 or more runs under Guttin.

Below is a look at MSU's record when scoring 5-10 runs under Guttin:

MSU scores Record Pct.

10+ 364-30 .924

9+ 438-42 .913

8+ 514-61 .894

7+ 596-89 .870

6+ 669-120 .848

5+ 739-174 .809

THE NATION'S ONLY

Missouri State enters 2008 with the distinction of being the only college program in America to have a pitcher drafted in the first round of the MLB Draft each of the last two seasons. Brett Sinkbeil was taken 19th overall in 2006 and southpaw Ross Detwiler went sixth in 2007. This year’s crop of draft-eligible Bears’ pitchers includes Jon Barnes, Kyle Boschert, Tim Clubb, Brant Combs, Matt Frevert, Austin Todd and Sean Toler.

The Bears bring back most of their power hitters from the 2007 season. In all, seven of the team’s top eight home run hitters and 36 of last year’s 44 total long balls are on the roster in 2008.

The pitching staff returns its top four hurlers in terms of appearances last season, including Pat Doyle (25) and Austin Todd (23), who turned in the second and fifth highest appearance totals in MSU history, respectively.

Kyle Paul. The Bears' senior catcher appears on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, which is given annually to the nation's top player.

MSU baseball broadcasts will once again air on KWTO and KBFL this season, with a total of 41 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 7 when the Bears host Iowa.

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.

PRESEASON POLL

The Bears enter the 2008 campaign picked to finish fourth in the MVC by the league's coaches. Wichita is the favorite to repeat as champions, followed by Creighton and Southern Illinois. UNI and Evansville round out the teams projected to make the MVC Tournament field of six.

2007 Player Notes

16 Kyle Paul - Named to the Brooks Wallace Award watch list