Dates: Thursday, May 20, 1 p.m.
Friday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 22, 2 p.m.
Site: Hammons Field
Location: Springfield, Mo.
TV: Mediacom 22 (Saturday)
Radio: KBFL 1060 AM
Live Audio: www.RadioSpringfield.com
Live Stats: www.MissouriStateBears.com
Live Video: Bears Live (Thursday & Friday)
Live Chat: None
What's On Tap
The Missouri State baseball team (19-30, 5-13 Missouri Valley) closes the regular season this weekend with a three-game series against Southern Illinois (26-26, 8-9) at Hammons Field. The weekend schedule has been pushed up a day to accomodate for the MVC Tournament starting on Tuesday, meaning games times of 1 p.m. Thursday, 6:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday on the slate for the SIU series.
The Opponent
Southern Illinois is 26-26 overall and fourth place in the MVC with an 8-9 league record.
The Salukis hit .308 with six regulars above the .300 mark. First baseman Chris Serritella leads SIU with a .389 average, 13 homers, 61 RBIs and 33 walks.
SIU pitchers have a 6.59 ERA and .326 opponent average. Starter Nathan Forer has the top ERA on the staff at 3.12 while opponents are hitting .254 against him. All-MVC closer Bryant George has a 4-1 record and six saves to go with a 5.70 ERA. Randy Hoelscher (4-3, 6.67) and Jimmy Cornell (3-4, 8.61) will also likely start against MSU.
The Salukis have committed 83 errors, the most in the MVC, and have a .959 fielding percentage.
The Series
Missouri State holds a 51-28 lead in the all-time series with Southern Illinois and has won the last five meetings. Prior to that, SIU won six of eight from 2006-08.
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 957-603 (.613). 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 was blanked in its first two games at Wichita State before grabbing a 10-3 win on Sunday. Friday, WSU's Jordan Cooper out-dueled MSU's Mike Kickham for a 3-0 win. Each pitcher went the distance and allowed six hits, while Cooper fanned 14 and walked none and Kickham struck out 10 and walked five.
On Saturday, Wichita State's Tim Kelley tossed a complete-game two-hit shutout for an 8-0 win.
Sunday, the Bears scored six runs after having the bases empty and two outs in the third and tacked on two runs in the fourth and fifth innings on the way to a 10-3 win. Curt Courtwright went 4-for-6 with three RBIs and Tyler Paxson drove in three as well. Pat Doyle allowed an earned run over 7.1 innings.
Quick Hits
• Missouri State's four seniors - Curt Courtwright, Pat Doyle, Christian Overstreet and Sean Toler will be honored prior to Saturday's game.
• MSU is 17-7 when scoring at least five runs.
• Bears opponents are fielding .987 with only seven errors in the last 15 games, and no opponent has made multiple errors against MSU since April 20.
As a comparison, the national team leader in fielding percentage sits at .981, and the NCAA record is .985.
• Missouri State pitchers have struck out 415 batters in 425.2 innings this season, an average of 8.77 strikeouts per nine innings, and lead the MVC in both categories.
The Bears rank 12th nationally in Ks/9 according to the most recent NCAA stat update for games through May 16.
• The Bears' strikeout rate this year is the highest in the Division I-era. The 2001 team fanned 8.75 per nine as the most since the jump in divisions in 1983.
That staff featured four future major leaguers.
• Missouri State games have averaged 17.45 strikeouts, easily leading the current school record of 15.98 set in 2001.
MSU hitters and pitchers have both accumulated top 10 seasons so far in terms of total strikeouts.
• Missouri State has pitched at least 10 strikeouts in 22 of 49 games.
• 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 eight strikeout pitchers in the MVC with Kickham (2nd), Doyle (4th), Gordon (8th).
• 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 30 of the last 46 games and the Bears rank third in the MVC and 56th nationally with a 4.80 team ERA.
• The MSU pitching staff has a 4.28 ERA and .279 opponent average over the last 46 games.
• Despite hitting 23 points lower than the opposition this season, the MSU offense has generated more extra-base hits (126-118) and loaded the bases nearly twice as much (75-48) as opponents in 2010.
• MSU has dropped five consecutive extra inning games dating to a 13-inning win over Middle Tennessee on May 11, 2008.
• 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.
Home Sweet Home
Missouri State is 13-9 at home this season and 110-66 all-time at Hammons Field.
The Bears are hitting .289 as a team in their home park and fielding .965, while the pitching staff has a 3.54 ERA and limits opponents to a .257 batting average.
Hard Luck Bears
Missouri State has played in 18 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 12 times.
The Bears have suffered five walk-off losses and have sent the winning run to the plate in the ninth in seven other defeats.
MSU also has six wins this season when the opponent brought the winning run up in the ninth.
Strength of Schedule
Missouri State's 2010 opponents are a combined 605-503 (.546) through May 18.
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.
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.
Clay Murphy won pitcher of the week honors April 26 after going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in nine innings over two relief appearances. He pitched 4.1 scoreless to beat SIUE and 4.2 innings with one unearned run to beat Creighton. Murphy struck out eight against five hits.
Champions Committed to Kids
The Baseball Bears added a new team member in April as Jacob Trammell joined the squad as part of the Champions Committed to Kids program.
Trammell, a Willard native who is winning the battle against cancer, dons the #35 MSU jersey in the dugout at home games.
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.
