May 20, 2012

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - After pitching the Missouri State Bears to a 5-0 victory at Indiana State in their regular-season finale Saturday afternoon, junior pitcher Pierce Johnson has been named the final State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for 2012, the league office announced Sunday evening.

Johnson held Indiana State to four hits while striking out six Sycamores over eight shutout innings in the Bears' series-clinching victory over the regular-season MVC champs. The Arvada, Colo., product retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced before handing the ball off to Tyler Burgess, who completed MSU's school-record 10th shutout of the season with a scoreless ninth.

Johnson improved to 3-6 on the year and lowered his earned run average to 2.58--good for sixth in the Valley this year--in becoming the eighth Bear to surpass the 100-strikeout mark in a season. He also moved into 10th place on MSU's career strikeout list and concluded the regular season having allowed just one run over his last 17.2 innings of work.

The honor is the second MVC weekly award for Johnson, who earned the same citation from the Valley on March 26 after striking out 16 Creighton Bluejays in a 3-0 shutout victory.

The second-seeded Bears (37-18, 13-7 MVC) return to Hammons Field to host the 2012 State Farm MVC Championship, beginning with a 7:30 p.m. game against the seventh-seeded Bradley Braves Tuesday (May 22) evening. All-session and single-game tickets for the tournament are on sale now at the Missouri State Athletics Box Office and may be obtained in person at the Chevy Pickup Window at JQH Arena, or by calling (417) 836-7678 or toll-free (888) 476-7849.