June 3, 2015 Missouri State Game Notes 
- MSU is making its second NCAA Division I Super Regional appearance and its first since 2003 after sweeping the Springfield Regional with wins over Canisius (14-1) and Iowa (5-3 and 3-2) this past weekend at Hammons Field
- The Bears enter the Fayetteville Super Regional with an overall postseason mark of 17-17 as a Division I program; MSU is just 23-51 all-time vs. UA, but claimed the two teams' first meeting of the season on March 31, a 2-0 victory at Baum Stadium that snapped a 10-game losing streak vs. the Razorbacks, as well as the only prevoius postseason meeting in the series at the 1999 Fayetteville Regional
- MSU brings the nation's longest win streak of 19 games into the weekend and is 39-4 overall since March 15; Bears pitching has posted a 1.99 ERA and limited the opposition to a .193 batting mark during the win streak
- The Bears' .433 team on-base percentage in NCAA Regional play represented the top team mark for any postseason qualifier through the opening weekend of the Championship
- With their 48-10 record, the Bears are 38 games over the .500 mark for the first time in the 52-year history of the program; additionally, MSU set a club record for victories in a season with its regional-clinching win Sunday
- MSU has logged 24 come-from-behind victories this season, including nine during their current 19-game win streak, over which the Bears went a perfect 17-0 in the month of May--their first undefeated month as a varsity program
- Matt Hall's Division I-best 163 K's this spring is just three away from Bryan Oelkers' Missouri Valley Conference record of 166 (1982); Hall and fellow junior Jon Harris have combined to strike out 276 batters this season, which represents the top total by a pair of MSU teammates in school history
- Along with No. 3 starter Jordan Knutson, Hall and Harris led a weekend rotation that logged 12 of MSU's 17 wins in the month of May; the duo went a combined 9-0 with an ERA of 0.64 in 10 May outings, allowing just five total earned runs in 70.1 innings while striking out a staggering 103 batters and handing out just 21 total walks
- The Bears rank fifth nationally with a program record 303 walks on the season, while their team on-base percentage (.397) is the 10th-best among all Division I teams; MSU also needs just one strikeout as a staff to match the school record of 537, posted by the Bears' last NCAA Tournament team in 2012
Fresh off a three-game sweep of the Springfield Regional, the Missouri State Bears return to Super Regional play for the first time in 12 years with a trip to Fayetteville, Ark., where they will meet the Arkansas Razorbacks at Baum Stadium. Missouri State (48-10), the No. 8 national seed in the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, will open the Fayetteville Super Regional against Arkansas Friday (June 5) at 3:35 p.m. (CT), with single games also set for Saturday at 1:05 p.m., and Sunday at 2:05 p.m. (if necessary). All Super Regional contests will be televised live on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Super Regional play involves a best-of-three format, with the eight winners advancing to the 2015 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, June 13-24. The eight CWS teams are divided into two double-elimination pools of four schools each. Pool winners meet in a best-of-three championship series, June 22-24.
The Bears are a national seed for the first time as a Division I program. Additionally, MSU's first run as a regional host was a smashing success, as 22,772 spectators--an average of 3,796 per game--passed through the Hammons Field turnstiles last weekend, including three of the top nine crowds in MSU's 12 years at the stadium.
In their last Championship appearance in 2012, the Bears went 1-2 at the Coral Gables (Fla.) Regional, logging a 12-2 victory over host Miami, as well as losses to UCF and eventual College World Series entrant Stony Brook. Missouri State is 17-17 all-time in NCAA Division I Championship play and has won at least two games in six of its last seven trips to a regional. The Bears are a perfect 2-0 in Super Regional play, sweeping the Columbus Super Regional against Ohio State in 2003 to earn the program's first trip to the Division I College World Series.
Bears and Hogs Have History
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Arkansas holds a commanding 51-23 all-time edge over Missouri State in a series that dates back to 1966. The Bears did emerge victorious in the two clubs' first meeting of the season on March 31 in Fayetteville, as three MSU pitchers combined to blank the Razorbacks, 2-0. That win halted a 10-game win streak in the series for UA that dated back to 2007. Overall, UA is 31-10 vs. the Bears in Fayetteville, where MSU had not won since 2006 before its victory earlier this spring.
The Bears claimed the only previous postseason meeting in the series, handing the Razorbacks a dramatic 9-8 setback in the winner's bracket final of the 1999 Fayetteville Regional. MSU, the third seed in the regional, posted a come-from-behind extra-inning win after Division I home run leader Matt Cepicky slammed a two-out, ninth-inning solo shot over the center field fence to erase a one-run deficit. In the 10th, Dan Firlit singled home Kory Stout with the game-winner, but second-seeded Clemson went on to claim the regional crown after defeating the Bears twice on the final day of competition.
Valley Prominent in NCAA Championship Field
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Missouri State was one of three Missouri Valley Conference teams selected for the NCAA Tournament, marking the third time in the last four seasons the league has earned multiple berths in the Championship. MVC regular-season runner-up Dallas Baptist also earned a top seed and the right to host the Dallas Regional, where the Patriots went 3-2 as the runner-up to eventual champion VCU.
Additionally, MVC Tournament runner-up Bradley secured its first NCAA Regional bid since 1968, earning the second seed in the Louisville Regional, where the Braves picked up their first postseason win in 59 years Saturday.
The stars will be out in full force at Baum Stadium this weekend, as the Fayetteville Super Regional will feature a total of five players who have earned postseason All-America honors to date. Junior pitcher Matt Hall leads a record contingent of MSU All-Americans, as four Bears were cited for Louisville Slugger postseason honors by Collegiate Baseball last week. Hall was a first-team selection, while fellow junior hurler Jon Harris picked up second-team laurels, and both sophomore closer Bryan Young and freshman third baseman Jake Burger earned third-team recognition.
Arkansas boasts its own big name, as sophomore outfielder Andrew Benintendi earned national player of the year honors from Collegiate Baseball, in addition to becoming the Razorbacks' first SEC Player of the Year honoree this spring.
Missouri State's four honorees represents a program-high in terms of All-America selections in a single season. The Bears' previous high in one year came in 2013, when Harris joined Tate Matheny on Collegiate Baseball's Freshman All-America team and Nick Petree was a consensus All-America choice for the second consecutive season.
With their Springfield Regional championship, the Bears extended their current win streak to 19 games, eclipsing an 18-game streak from April 16 to May 15, 1989 as longest in the all-time annals of the program and the third-longest in Division I baseball in 2015. The Bears have used a consistent blend of shutdown pitching, solid defense and timely hitting to mount their late-season run that has included nine of their 24 total come-from-behind victories this season.
MSU pitching has suffocated the opposition during the last 19 games, posting a 1.99 staff ERA while holding foes to a .193 batting mark. Matt Hall has been unhittable down the stretch, going 5-0 with 68 strikeouts in just 39.2 innings over his last five starts, three of which have resulted in MSU shutouts. The Bears' defense has been arguably better, posting a .983 team fielding percentage after committing just 12 errors in 726 chances over the course of the streak.
The Missouri State offense has proven to be dangerous as well, especially when it comes to the big inning, with seven separate rallies of four runs or more during the streak. One key to the surge has been the return of senior infielder Eric Cheray from an ankle injury that kept him out of action for eight weeks. Cheray has hit .403 (27-for-67) with 13 RBIs and a .535 on-base percentage to lead the Bears since the beginning of the hot streak that started with a 7-4 victory at Illinois State on April 26.
