Dates: Tues., Apr. 20, 6 p.m.
           Weds., Apr. 21, 6:30 p.m.
Site: Billiken Sports Center (Tues.)
        Hammons Field (Weds.)
Location: St. Louis, Mo. (Tuesday)
                Springfield, Mo. (Wednesday)
TV: None
Radio: KBFL 1060 AM (Wednesday)
Live Audio: www.RadioSpringfield.com (Wednesday)
Live Stats: www.MissouriStateBears.com
Live Video: None
Live Chat: None

What's On Tap
The Missouri State baseball team (13-20, 1-5 Missouri Valley) plays a pair of St. Louis-area schools in midweek action this week, traveling to Saint Louis University (19-18, 7-5 Atlantic 10) at 6 p.m. Tuesday and hosting SIU Edwardsville (12-23) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The Opponents
Saint Louis is 19-18 overall and 7-5 in Atlantic 10 play. The Billikens hit .310 as a team with Jon Myers pacing the club with a .397 average and 14 homers. Danny Brock owns the RBI lead with 53 and J.D. Dunn has 13 steals.
    SLU pitchers have a 6.86 ERA and .346 opponent average. All three weekend starters threw complete games over the weekend at Fordham, likely leaving Tuesday's game in the hands of the SLU bullpen, which has an ERA of 9.77 in 131.2 innings.
    The Billikens field .958 as a team.
SIU Edwardsville is 12-23 overall playing as an independent during its reclassification to Division I, where it will be a member of the Ohio Valley Conference.
    The Cougars bat .304 as a team with seven regulars at .300 or above. Adam Eggemeyer is the team leader in average (.348), homers (8) and RBIs (30).
    Cougar pitchers have an 8.82 ERA and opponent average of .350. All but one SIUE hurler has an ERA below 6.08, and the Cougars field .947 as a team.

The Series
Missouri State is 41-10 all-time against Saint Louis, its best record against any opponent with at least 50 meetings. SLU ended a three-game MSU win streak with an 8-3 win in Springfield last season.
    The Bears and SIUE are tied at 19-19. The teams last met in 1986, splitting a two-game series in Edwardsville.
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 950-593 (.616). 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
Keenen Maddox hit a walk-off home run to cap a 3-for-4, three RBI night Wednesday as the Bears defeated Missouri 5-4 at Hammons Field. Maddox hit a solo homer in the fifth to break up Mizzou's no-hitter before launching a two-run shot in the ninth for the win.
    Mike Kickham fanned 11 over seven innings in the start and Grant Gordon struck out five of the six batters he faced in earning the win.

Quick Hits
• Missouri State is hitting .310 with 43 extra-base hits over the last 15 games.

•     Missouri State pitchers have struck out 283 batters in 287.2 innings this season, an average of 8.85 strikeouts per nine innings, and lead the MVC in both categories.
    The Bears rank 19th nationally in Ks/9 according to the most recent NCAA stat update for games through April 11.

•     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 three of the top six strikeout pitchers in the MVC with Kickham (2nd), Gordon (5th) 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 23 of the last 31 games and the Bears now sit second in the MVC with a 4.66 team ERA.

•     The MSU pitching staff has a 3.86 ERA and .279 opponent average over the last 30 games.

•     Despite hitting 19 points lower than the opposition this season, the MSU offense has generated more extra-base hits (86-76) and loaded the bases nearly twice as much (50-26) as 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 10-5 at home this season and 107-62 all-time at Hammons Field.
    The Bears are hitting .298 as a team in their home park and fielding .974, while the pitching staff has a 3.11 ERA and limits opponents to a .244 batting average.

Hard Luck Bears
Missouri State has played in 12 games this season decided in the final at bat (defined as the trailing team brings winning run to the plate), coming out on the short end 10 times.
    The Bears have suffered five walk-off losses and have sent the winning run to the plate in the ninth in five other defeats.
    MSU also has two wins this season when the opponent brought the winning run up in the ninth. If those outcomes were reversed, the Bears would be 20-11 and 4-2 in the league.

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 415-338 (.551) through April 18.

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.
    Luke Voit won the award March 29 after hitting .550 with 13 RBIs in five games. The freshman had four multi-RBI games and three multi-hit outings while slugging two homers and three doubles.
    Kevin Medrano hit .706 (12-for-17) and reached base 15 times in 20 plate appearances to win April 5. He went 4-for-5 at Kansas and had eight hits in three games against Oral Roberts, including a four-hit day in the series opener. Medrano scored five runs and drove in two for the week.

Live Chats
MissouriStateBears.com will have a live chat for select 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 scheduled regular season games and all postseason action on KBFL 1060 AM. Art Hains and Rob Evans will describe the action.
    All broadcasts can be heard live over the internet by visiting www.RadioSpringfield.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.