The Missouri State baseball team (33-14, 16-5 Missouri Valley Conference) has four non-conference games this week as it takes a conference bye this weekend with Middle Tennessee State and faces in-state rival and 14th-ranked Missouri (31-16) Wednesday in Columbia. The Bears then close the regular season May 15-17 at Northern Iowa with a chance to sew up a top-two finish with one win over the Panthers.
THE OPPONENT
Missouri is 31-16 overall, 11-10 in the Big 12 and ranked between 14th and 17th in the four major polls entering Tuesday's home game with Creighton. The Tigers bat .300 as a team with Aaron Senne (.361, 11 HR, 54 RBI) and Jacob Priday (.342-15-55) leading the way.
The pitching staff has a 4.82 ERA and allows opponents to hit .285. Less weekend starters Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson, who have a combined record of 17-1, Mizzou's staff has an ERA of 5.59 and opponent batting average of .305.
THE SERIES
Missouri holds a slight 19-18 edge in 37 all-time meetings. The Bears have lost the last three meetings, all in Springfield, and the teams have not met in Columbia since 2005 due to rain outs the last two seasons.
Mizzou won 8-4 on April 9 of this season in a game that lasted three batters into the seventh inning before being called due to weather.
LIVE STATS INFORMATION
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.
COACH KEITH GUTTIN
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 897-550 (.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 13 years.
MVC SCENARIOS
The Bears have secured no worse than a third-place finish in the MVC and need to beat Northern Iowa once in the final weekend to finish in the top two and earn a first-round bye in the league tournament. The Bears are a game behind behind first-place Wichita State in the loss column, and will need help from Evansville and Bradley, WSU's final two opponents, to win the league title.
LAST TIME OUT
The bats of Josh Mazzola and the rest of the Bears came alive at Indiana State over the weekend to the tune of 52 runs in a three-game sweep. MSU won Friday's series opener 15-6 behind two Mazzola homers and an 11-run fourth inning. On Saturday, Mazzola homered again and Ben Woodbury had a double, two triples and five RBIs in a 16-4 win. Mazzola homered two more times and drove in another five runs on Sunday, and Woodbury notched five more hits in MSU's 21-10 victory.
