The Missouri State baseball team (19-11, 5-4 Missouri Valley Conference) steps back into league play this weekend by hosting Evansville (6-24, 1-8) in a three-game set at Hammons Field. The Bears have already played the three league teams picked to finish ahead of them in the preseason MVC poll, and look to make up some ground on the rest of the Valley beginning this weekend. Friday's game has been moved from its originally scheduled start time and will now begin at 4 p.m.

Evansville is 6-24 overall and 1-8 in the Valley, but enters the weekend with two consecutive wins under its belt. An extremely young squad, UE lost 13 seniors from last year's squad and leading returner Jim Viscomi went down with a season-ending injury in the season's first game.

The Purple Aces hit .258 as a team, but four starters sit above the .300 mark, led by infielder Andy Smith at .349.

The pitching staff has a 6.66 ERA and .324 opponent batting average. Sean McCarthy (0-5, 5.29) and John Foley (2-2, 4.99) make up two-thirds of the weekend rotation, and J.R. Carbonell has saved half of UE's six victories.

The Evansville defense has struggled at times, fielding .941 this season.

Missouri State leads the all-time series 35-27, and swept the series when UE visited Springfield in 2006. Including last year's MVC Tournament, Evansville has lost five of its last six games at Hammons Field.

Live stats for most Missouri State baseball games will be available at www.missouristatebears.com. Click "Live Stats" on the left side of the page and select the appropriate game.

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 883-547 (.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 13 years.

The Bears and eighth-ranked Missouri only made it through six innings before the rain came Wednesday with the Tigers walking away with an 8-4 win. MSU scored two in the first, but MU responded with three in the fourth for its first lead, and added a two-run homer in the fifth and a three-run shot in the sixth to pull away.