Missouri State Bears (13-11, 4-1 MVC)

vs. Illinois State Redbirds (16-11, 3-1 MVC)

Overview

Off to their best conference start in five years, the Missouri State Bears will look to continue a recent hot streak that has seen them claim victory in 10 of their last 15 outings when they travel to Normal, Ill., for a three-game set against the Illinois State Redbirds. MSU and ISU will play a noon doubleheader to kick-off the series Saturday (April 2) before squaring off in a single contest Sunday at noon.

This weekend's series will mark the Bears' second straight venture on the road in MVC play after sweeping Indiana State in a two-game set in Terre Haute last weekend. The Bears' 4-1 Valley mark is their best start in conference play since beginning the 2006 campaign with 10 consecutive victories en route to the school's fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.

Illinois State enters the week 3-1 in MVC play following a two-game split with Wichita State last, Saturday. The preseason Valley co-favorite, ISU is 16-11 overall and brings a commanding 53-32 advantage in the series with Missouri State into the weekend.

 

Quick Hits

-The Bears out-scored Indiana State by a combined 5-0 margin in the first inning of their two games last weekend after entering the series having scored just five times in the opening frame all season

-MSU posted back-to-back double-digit hit totals against the Sycamores after failing to reach 10 hits in each of its previous 13 games

-The Bears are 9-1 in games in which they have out-hit the opposition

-MSU is 8-4 in one-run contests in 2011

-Missouri State pounded out eight extra-base hits in its two-game sweep of Indiana State, matching its team total from its previous 10 games

-Bears pitching has yielded more than two earned runs just four times in its previous 15 games

-Bears hitters are 0-for-19 this season with the bases loaded

-The Bears are 12-2 this year when entering the sixth inning leading or tied with the opposition

-Missouri State pinch hitters are batting .098 (4-of-41) this season

-Madison Hargrove has recorded hits in each of her last four games after going hitless in 18 at-bats over a 12-game stretch

-Caitlin Chapin is slugging .778 and hitting .333 with five extra-base hits in MSU's five Valley games

-Natalie Rose leads the MVC with four saves and 106 strikeouts; the junior right-hander moved up to the No. 5 spot on the Bears' career strikeouts chart last week after fanning 19 batters in 20.0 innings

-Kirstin Cutter ranks second in the Valley in hitting (.407) and has at least one hit in 12 of her last 16 games; the sophomore shortstop established career highs for both hits (3) and runs scored (3) in Saturday's series-opening win at Indiana State

-Ashley Knehans matched her single-game career high for hits Satuday when she recorded three safeties against ISU    

-Cutter is 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts this season, matching her career high for steals in a season

-As a team, the Bears are batting just. 229 at home, and .256 on the road; Cutter leads the club with a .478 mark in nine road games

 

Series Records

Illinois State enters the weekend with a commanding 53-32 advantage in the series with Missouri State. The Redbirds took two of three meetings with the Bears a year ago, but MSU had the last laugh, knocking ISU out of the MVC Championship with a 6-1 victory in Des Moines. The Bears and Redbirds split their two contests in MSU's last trip to Normal in April 2009.         

 

Scouting The Bears

Missouri State is off to a 13-11 start after posting wins in 10 of its last 15 outings. The Bears, who have dropped six games to nationally-ranked clubs, return 12 letterwinners and seven regular starters from last year's 21-32 squad that finished in a tie for fourth in the Valley's regular-season standings. MSU is led by a trio of returning All-MVC performers, including seniors Jenna Schwark and Christa Gammon, who batted .358 and .337, respectively, a year ago to rank among the conference's top six hitters. Sophomore Caitlin Chapin also enjoyed a banner year in her debut season for MSU in 2010, clubbing eight home runs to match a Missouri State freshman record. In the circle, junior right-hander Natalie Rose should carry the load once again after finishing 2010 with six consecutive complete games during the Bears' critical run through the MVC Tournament.

Scouting The Redbirds

Picked by the Missouri Valley Conference's coaches as the league's preseason co-favorite, Illinois State returns 11 letterwinners and six regulars from last year's 32-20 squad that finished second in the regular season race before receiving the program's seventh NCAA Tournament berth. Leading the way for ISU is a pair of returning third-team All-Americans in seniors Kara Nelson and Abby Olson, who drive an offense that has posted a .302 team average to date. Nelson is hitting a league-high .430 through the first 27 games of the season after hitting .395 as a junior, and leads the club in both hits and runs scored. Olson clubbed a school-record 19 homers last year and has six so far this season to share the team lead. Her 21 RBIs also paces the squad and her .387 average also rates among the MVC's leaders. The Redbirds' offense is deep and versatile, as four other regulars enter the week hitting .311 or better. In the circle, ISU relies on the one-two junior punch of Megan Warner and Jordan Birch, who have combined to post 13 of the Redbirds' 16 victories. Warner's 67.1 innings pitched and 64 strikeouts lead the team, while Birch has won seven of her eight decisions on the year.

 

Bears Under Holly Hesse

Missouri State head coach Holly Hesse (Creighton, '82) is 582-569-2 (.506) in her 23rd season at Missouri State. Last season, the Bears finished 21-32 and tied for fourth in the MVC regular-season race before reeling off three wins in two days at the MVC Tournament to reach the semifinal round.

Hesse led the Bears to a school-record 40 wins and a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2006. Hesse's teams have made four trips to the NCAA Tournament (1996, 1997, 1998, 2006) and have won four Missouri Valley Conference tournament championships. She also led the Bears to the Gateway Conference regular season championship in 1992 and the MVC regular season title in 1994. Missouri State's 2006 campaign was the sixth time the Bears have won 30 games in a season, and they enter the 2011 season with an average of over 24 wins per season since her arrival in 1989. The Bears' fourth-place MVC in finish last year marked the 13th time during her tenure MSU has finished in the top-five of the conference standings. Hesse won her 500th career game at Missouri State in a 1-0 triumph over Indiana State on April 22, 2007.

 

Off And Running

By taking two of three games from UNI, March 19-20, Missouri State posted its first opening series win in Valley play since 2006, when they swept Indiana State in a three-game set en route to starting the MVC season with 10 straight victories. Over the previous four years since that season, the Bears had gone a combined 1-9 in their first conference series.

Additionally, Missouri State is 4-1 in Valley play, marking its best conference start since beginning the 2006 season with 10 consecutive victories. That year, the Bears went 18-4 in MVC play to finish second in the regular-season race before capturing the Valley Tournament title and advancing to the school's fifth NCAA Tournament.

 

Power Outage

After tying the school record for home runs in season last year, the Bears have seen a drop in their power numbers through the first 24 games of the 2011 campaign. MSU got long balls from Caitlin Chapin and Heather Duckworth in its first two games of the season, before experiencing a nine-game homerless streak that finally ended March 12 with Stevie Pierce's game-winning two-run shot in the second inning vs. UAPB. That clout halted a stretch of 249 consecutive at-bats without a homer for the Bears. In all, MSU has been out-homered 17-6 on the year.

 

Coming Up Roses

For the second time in three weeks, junior softball player Natalie Rose has been named Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced Monday. Rose, who earned the same honor for the first time in her career on March 14, posted her team-leading seventh and eight wins of the season in leading the Bears to a two-game sweep of Indiana State over the weekend.

Rose went 2-1 without allowing a single earned run over 20.0 innings spanning three appearances last week. The right-hander posted both Missouri State wins over Indiana State to help the Bears sweep the Sycamores for the third straight year and finished the week with an impressive 19 to 1 strikeout-walk ratio. The Henryetta, Okla., native started the week with a complete-game setback against 18th-ranked Oklahoma State in which she struck-out eight batters before falling 1-0 when the Cowgirls pushed an unearned run across the plate in the eighth inning. She bounced back Saturday by going the distance once again with a four-hitter against ISU, allowing just a single unearned run. Finally, Rose ran her streak of consecutive outings without allowing an earned run to six with a 6-1 decision over the Sycamores, tossing five scoreless innings of three-hit ball.

Rose, who enters the week with an 8-9 overall mark, leads the MVC in both saves (4) and strikeouts (106). Through her first 22 outings this season, she has posted a 2.22 earned run average over 107.1 innings of work and has completed 11 of her 16 starts.

 

Kenhans Joins Century Club

Senior first baseman Ashley Knehans became the 36th Bear to record 100 career hits by going 2-for-3 in MSU's MVC opener against UNI (March 19). Knehans joined fellow seniors Jenna Schwark and Christa Gammon, who each notched their 100th hits last season.

 

You Can't Spell Wiggins Without A 'W'

Freshman right-hander Savannah Wiggins went 2-0 in the circle the week of March 14-20, and the Bears won each of her three starts. On the year, the Huffman, Texas, native has made seven starts, and Missouri State is a perfect 7-0 in those games. Wiggins has also made a start as the Bears' designated player. The result: a Missouri State victory, of course.

 

What A Cut-Up

Sophomore shortstop Kirstin Cutter enters the weekend with hits in 14 of the Bears' 21 games. The sophomore also posted a four-game hit streak, from March 4-12. The Oklahoma City native is one of just two Bears, along with Tyler Porter in center, to make every start at her position this year.

 

Nice Eye

Senior utility Jenna Schwark ranked as the Valley's toughest player to strike-out in 2010, fanning just three times in 25 MVC games and 10 times overall. Her average of just one strikeout every 15.9 at-bats ranked 52nd among all Division I players.

Schwark has fanned four times in 62 at-bats this year, and has gone down on strikes just 42 times in 464 career at-bats, or once in every 11.0 at-bats.

 

Who Came Up With This Schedule, Anyway?

Missouri State has played six games against four ranked opponents through its first 24 contests of the season. In those six outings, the Bears have been out-hit 49-17 and out-scored 34-2 in going 0-6 against No. 13 Texas (twice), No. 18 Missouri, No. 10 Oklahoma (twice) and No. 18 Oklahoma State. The Bears now have a 14-game losing streak vs. teams ranked in the NFCA Top 25, with their last win coming at then-No. 11 OU on March 19, 2008.

 

Slammin' Gammon

Senior infielder Christa Gammon batted 12-of-28 (.429) over an eight-game stretch, March 6-13, in which she recorded at least one hit in all seven of her starts during that span. The Fairview Heights, Ill., product had three doubles at North Texas (March 9) and posted three straight multi-hit games, March 6-9. Gammon's streak rivaled a pair of similar stretches she turned in last season. She batted .727 with four doubles and five runs scored against Evansville in late March, then went 12-for-17 (.706) over a four-game stretch against Indiana State and UNI, May 1-8.

Gammon finished the conference season as the Valley's leader in hits with 34 safeties in MVC play en route to earning Second-Team All-MVC honors in 2010. Her .395 batting average over 25 league games ranked third in the circuit and marked a .151 point improvement from last year, when she hit just .244 in conference play. She also tied for the league lead with two triples and rated fourth in runs scored (18) in Valley play last season.

 

On The Rise

The Bears fourth-place Valley finish in 2010 represented their best since 2006, when they finished second in the regular-season standings before claiming their fifth MVC Tournament title. In 27 seasons in the Gateway/MVC, Missouri State has finished fifth or better on 15 occasions-including 10 times in the last 15 seasons-and 13 times during head coach Holly Hesse's tenure.

MVC Preseason Poll

The Missouri State softball team was picked to finish fifth in the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference coaches' preseason poll. Defending champ Southern Illinois shared top billing with 2010 runner-up Illinois State, with each garnering 94 points in the poll. Drake (72) came in third in the voting, followed by UNI (69) and MSU with 57 points. Defending Valley Tournament champion Creighton (54) finished right on the Bears' heels, while Evansville (39), Wichita State (36), Indiana State (19) and Bradley (16) rounded out the poll.

 

Follow The Bears

Live stats for all four Missouri State softball games this week will be available on the Missouri State Athletics web site at missouristatebears.com.

Select MSU softball games will be broadcast live via streaming video on Bears Live, MSU's premium broadband video destination for exclusive live and on-demand streaming content. The subscription-based service will include video and audio courtesy of Meyer Communications for eight regular-season MSU softball contests in 2011.