Dates: Friday, Mar. 26, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 27, 2 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 28, 1 p.m.
Site: Hammons Field
Location: Springfield, Mo.
Radio: KBFL 99.9 FM (Friday); KBFL 1060 AM (Sat. and Sun.)
TV: None
Live Audio: www.RadioSpringfield.com
Live Stats: www.MissouriStateBears.com
Live Video: None
Live Chat: www.MissouriStateBears.com
What's On Tap
The Missouri State baseball team (7-13) begins Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend by hosting Evansville (10-12) in a three-game set at Hammons Field.First pitch Friday is set for 6:30 p.m., with the remainder of the series scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Opponent
Evansville is 10-12 overall following an 8-7 home loss to a nationally-ranked Louisville team on Tuesday.
The Purple Aces hit .276 with Greg Wallace leading the way with a .372 average. Wallace is the MVC's leader in RBIs (29), hits (35) and runs scored (23) while belting 18 extra base hits through 22 games. Cody Fick has a club-high six homers to go with a .301 average, and Eric Stamets has swiped 21 bases in 22 tries.
On the mound, UE has a 5.51 ERA and allows opponents to hit .290. Keegan Dennis (1-1, 3.86 ERA, 25 Ks), Sam Johns (1-1, 5.79, 19) and Seth McCabe (2-0, 9.19, 17) will likely start the three games against MSU, and reliever Corey Davisson has an MVC-high 14 appearances and 2.75 ERA.
Evansville ranks second in the league with a .973 team fielding percentage.
The Series
Missouri State leads Evansville in the all-time series 40-28, and has won five of the last six meetings. Last season, UE took the first game of the series in Evansville before the Bears responded to take the last two by a combined score of 25-9.
Coach Keith Guttin
Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin (Missouri-St. Louis, 1978) is in his 28th season as head coach of the baseball Bears and has a career record of 944-584 (.618). 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
Missouri State swept a two-game midweek series from Central Arkansas at Hammons Field by scores of 14-5 and 4-2.
Tuesday, the Bears scored four in the first and used four-hit performances from Travis McComack and Luke Voit in the blowout win. McComack reached base safely in all six trips to the plate and Voit drove in five runs as MSU sealed it with a six-run seventh.
On Wednesday, Clay Murphy struck out eight over six innings and Kevin Medrano drove in Aaron Conway with a sacrifice fly in the seventh to put MSU ahead for good in the 4-2 win.
Quick Hits
• Missouri State pitchers have struck out 173 batters in 174 innings this season, an average of 8.95 strikeouts per nine innings.
The Bears ranked 23rd nationally in Ks/game as staff in the initial NCAA stat rankings released Tuesday.
• Aaron Meade, Pat Doyle, Grant Gordon, Mike Kickham, Pierce Johnson and Clay Murphy have each struck out at least eight batters in a game this season.
• Missouri State boasts four of the league's top six strikeout pitchers in Meade (t-2nd), Kickham (t-2nd), Gordon (4th) and Doyle (6th).
• Five Bears - Meade, Kickham, Gordon, J.C. Casey and Tyler Ryun - have posted a pitching performance of at least seven scoreless innings in their careers.
• Missouri State's team ERA has stayed level or dropped following 15 of the last 18 games.
• The MSU pitching staff has a 3.96 ERA and .285 opponent average over the last 17 games.
• Despite hitting 50 points lower than the opposition this season, the MSU offense has generated more extra-base hits (51-50) than opponents in 2010.
• Missouri State started the season 0-4 for the fourth time in school history and 0-5 for just the second time since the program's inception in 1964.
The slow start is not necessarily a bad thing, as the Bears rebounded from an 0-5 start in 1997 to make the NCAA Tournament, and an 0-4 start in 2009 to win the MVC title.
The other 0-4 start came in 1964, the program's first season of existence.
• MSU has dropped five consecutive extra inning games dating to a 13-inning win over Middle Tennessee on May 11, 2008.
Home Sweet Home
Missouri State is 6-2 at home this season and 103-59 all-time at Hammons Field.
The Bears are hitting .295 as a team in their home park and fielding .975, while the pitching staff has a 2.96 ERA and limits opponents to a .248 batting average.
ReKord Game
The Missouri State and UT Arlington pitching staffs combined to set an NCAA record with 43 strikeouts in their Feb. 26 game in Arlington. The previous mark was set at 41 in a 1994 game between Arkansas and Auburn.
Four separate pitchers struck out at least eight hitters in the 14-inning contest, and UTA also tied an NCAA all-division record by tossing 26 strikeouts as a staff.
Strength of Schedule
Missouri State's 2010 opponents are a combined 231-187 (.553) through March 25.
Bears on TV
Missouri State will have three games this season televised live on Mediacom Connection Channel 22 in Springfield. Mediacom will broadcast games against Missouri (April 14, 6:30 p.m.), Illinois State (May 7, 6:30 p.m.) and Southern Illinois (May 22, 2 p.m.).
Players of the Week
Grant Gordon was the first Bear of the season honored with an MVC weekly award when he was named the league's pitcher of the week on March 1. Gordon pitched seven innings of scoreless relief and struck out eight batters in MSU's 14-inning game at UT Arlington the on Feb. 26.
The Bears swept the league's weekly awards March 8 with Christian Overstreet winning Player of the Week and Mike Kickham being honored as the league's top pitcher.
Overstreet batted .727 (8-for-11), slugged 1.455 and reached base safely 14 times in 17 trips to the plate. He hit two homers, two doubles, drove in six runs and scored seven while adding a stolen base, five walks, one HBP and an outfield assist.
Kickham pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 10 against five hits to defeat North Dakota State. He took a one-hitter through five innings and fanned seven Bison hitters over his last three frames.
Live Chats
MissouriStateBears.com will have a live chat for most home games, offering updates and giving fans a chance to make comments or questions during the game.
Check the Bears Live or baseball schedule pages for the listing and chat icons to participate.
Radio Broadcasts
MSU baseball broadcasts again air on KBFL this season, with a total of 43 regular season games and all postseason action. Art Hains and Rob Evans will describe the action.
As a general rule, night games will be broadcast on 99.9 FM and day games on 1060 AM.
All broadcasts can be heard live over the internet by visiting www.RadioSpringfield.com.
Up-to-date schedule and station assignments, as well as links to listen live, can be found on the baseball schedule page of www.MissouriStateBears.com.
New Tourney Format
The 2010 State Farm MVC Tournament will have a new look, welcoming all eight league members to Wichita the final week of May.
This year's version will divide the eight teams into two pods based on regular season finish. Each four-team bracket will be a double-elimination format, with the winners squaring off in a one-game championship on Saturday evening.
Preseason Awards
Three Bears made the preseason all-MVC team while Aaron Meade was honored as a preseason third-team All-American by Ping!Baseball.
Joining Meade on the all-conference squad are junior outfielder Aaron Conway and 2009 MVC Freshman of the Year Kevin Medrano at second base.
