The Missouri State baseball team (23-14, 9-2 Missouri Valley Conference) hits the road for four games this week, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. Wednesday game at No. 25 Oklahoma State (25-15). The Bears entered the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll at No. 30 this week, and returns to MVC play at Evansville at 6 p.m. Friday. MSU and UE continue the weekend series at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Missouri State as won 19 of its last 23 games.
THE OPPONENTS
Oklahoma State is 25-15 overall and 5-9 in the Big 12 entering a Tuesday game at Wichita State. The OSU offense is potent as always, hitting .308 and slugging .506. Outfielder Neil Medchill leads the team 11 home runs and 45 RBIs, while Micheal Dabbs leads in average at .364. Seven starters bat above .300.
The pitching staff has a 4.66 ERA and allows opponents to hit .259. Closer Randy McCurry anchors the bullpen with seven saves and a 2.05 ERA.
The Cowboys field .977 as a team, a figure that ranks in the top 10 nationally.
Evansville is 18-19 overall and 6-9 in The Valley under first-year head coach Wes Carroll heading into midweek games at SEMO and Kentucky. The Purple Aces hit .261 as a club, with Cody Fick (.329-6-30) and Andy Pascoe (.325-0-9) the only regulars above .300.
The Aces have a 4.89 ERA, with John Foley (4-2, 4.08) and Wade Kapteyn (2-6, 4.25) anchoring the weekend rotation. Reliever J.R. Carbonell has a 1.27 ERA and allows opponents to hit .169, and closer Tom Heithoff is 3-1 with a 2.03 ERA and six saves.
Evansville fields .970 as a team.
THE SERIES
Missouri State is 1-4 against Oklahoma State, losing the first four meetings before a 4-3 win on April 8. Jon Barnes closed that game with one hit over two relief innings for the win, and Ben Carlson stole third and scored on an error for the winning run in the eighth.
Missouri State leads Evansville in the all-time series 38-27, and swept the series last season at Hammons Field.
LIVE STATS INFORMATION
Live stats for all Missouri State baseball games will be available at www.missouristatebears.com. Go to the “Fan Central” link on the left side of the page and select “Live Stats.”
AUDIO AND VIDEO COVERAGE
Coverage of this week's games will be as follows:
Radio: KBFL 1060 AM and online at www.radiospringfield.com
Video stream: Bears Live, Wednesday
TV: None
COACH KEITH GUTTIN
Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin (Missouri-St. Louis, 1978) is in his 27th season as head coach of the baseball Bears and has a career record of 927-567 (.620). Guttin became the first coach at Missouri State (in any sport) to reach the 900-win mark with the May 11, 2008, win over Middle Tennessee 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 10 times with four 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 14 years.
LAST TIME OUT
The Bears swept Wichita State at Hammons Field by scores of 8-2, 12-8 and 2-0 over the weekend.
Tim Clubb threw a complete-game three-hitter on Friday with Aaron Conway, Ben Carlson and Kevin Medrano all homering.
On Saturday, the teams endured two 45-plus minute rain delays and Medrano's two-run homer in the fifth put the Bears ahead for good at 5-4. Chris Playter and Tyler Ryun had three RBIs apiece.
The Bears nearly no-hit the Shockers on Sunday, as Aaron Meade held WSU hitless until one out in the eighth. Jon Barnes saved it with a scoreless ninth, and Chris Playter doubled in Brayden Drake and then scored the team's other run in the fourth.
QUICK HITS
Missouri State is ranked 30th in this week's Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, its first ranking since finishing the 2003 season at No. 8 following a CWS berth.
The Bears have been ranked previously in that poll on nine occasions: 6/9/03 (8th), 6/2/03 (14th), 5/27/02 (28th), 4/15/02 (25th), 4/8/02 (27th), 6/21/99 (27th), 6/7/99 (27th), 5/31/99 (27th) and 4/12/99 (26th).
Missouri State's five-game win streak currently ties the Bears for the seventh longest active streak in the country entering April 21 games.
Tim Clubb and Buddy Baumann have combined to go 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA in three starts against Evansville.
Missouri State has won 19 of its last 23 games overall and 12 of the last 13 at Hammons Field.
After opening the year with a 9.36 team ERA through six games, the MSU pitching staff has a 3.10 ERA and is allowing the opposition to hit .233 in the 31 games since.
Bears starters are 19-4 with a 2.75 ERA and .218 opponent average in the last 31 games.
MSU pitchers have a 2.55 ERA and .197 opponent average at Hammons Field.
Missouri State's team ERA has dropped following 26 of the team's last 31 games.
The Bears have turned 29 double plays this season while hitting into 18.
Opposing starters have posted a 8.38 ERA against the Bears this season, while MSU starters have a 3.26 ERA and are allowing opponents to hit .233.
MSU starters have accounted for 20 of the team's 23 wins.
Brayden Drake set a school record with his 30-game hitting streak that began April 27, 2008 and ended March 29 of this season. The streak ranks seventh in MVC history.
Drake has collected a hit in 76 of his last 87 games.
Freshman second baseman Kevin Medrano has 50 hits in 37 games, an average that ranks fifth among rookie campaigns in Missouri State history.
Medrano currently leads MSU with 50 hits. No freshman has led the club in that category since Bob Blakley in 1974.
Chris Playter has eight game-winning RBIs this year and 14 for his career. Those numbers place him eighth in MSU history for a season and 10th for a career.
Twenty-one of Ben Carlson's 38 hits this season have gone for extra bases.
Missouri State is hitting .429 (27-63) with the bases loaded this year, while opponents are 8-44 (.182).
MSU is 6-4 when scoring four runs or less.
Tim Clubb has left 21 of his last 23 starts in line for the victory.
Clubb has pitched at least eight innings in five straight starts.
Clubb is 9-0 with a 1.64 ERA at Hammons Field the last two seasons.
Buddy Baumann started the 2009 season with 22 scoreless innings.
Baumann hit 18 batters in 75 innings a year ago, but went 46 innings before plunking a batter this year.
Five MSU pitchers; Tim Clubb, Buddy Baumann, Aaron Meade, J.C. Casey and Tyler Ryun, have starts of at least six scoreless innings in their careers.
The Bears' weekend rotation of Tim Clubb, Buddy Baumann and Aaron Meade have combined for a 45-17 record in their collective careers.
They have struck out 477 hitters over 527 innings with eight complete games.
All three have won MVC Pitcher of the Week at least once.
Baumann and Meade rank 1-2 in the league in wins (7 and 6), 2-4 in the league in strikeouts (63 and 62) and 1-5 in ERA (1.62 and 2.75).
The Bears have eight different players with at least 19 RBIs this season.
Missouri State has outscored the opposition 182-91 in the first five innings this season, and slugged 22 of the team's 35 homers in the first four.
Missouri State has allowed 49 unearned runs through 37 games, an average of 1.32 per contest, but is outscoring the opposition overall by 82 runs, or 2.22 per game.
In terms of earned runs, the Bears have outscored the opposition 249-148 this year, a margin of 2.73 per contest.
Missouri State is 16-4 on the year when making one or zero errors.
Missouri State leads the MVC with just 12 stolen bases allowed 37 games. Catcher Dallas Hord has thrown out 10 of 21 potential base stealers.
The next closest MVC team has allowed 22 steals this year.
