Feb. 24, 2016
- Missouri State will be looking for its first 4-0 start since 1999 Friday when it takes on UConn to open play at the Governors Challenge in Clarksville, Tenn.
- The Bears climbed to a peak position of No. 12 in this week's Collegiate Baseball poll
- MSU clubbed five home runs in its three-game sweep of UCA last weekend, including three by sophomore third baseman Jake Burger, who was named MVC Player of the Week on Monday
- MSU is now 22-12 in season openers under head coach Keith Guttin and 34-19 overall following last Friday's 12-1 win at UCA
- Guttin ranks 10th among all active Division I head coaches with 1,141 victories in his 34 years at MSU
- Bryan Young saved his 17th game as a Bear Saturday at UCA and needs to record just one more to match Shaun Marcum's school record
- Three freshmen made their MSU debuts in the Bears opening day lineup, including Hunter Steinmetz, Jeremy Eierman and Ryan Mantle
- Dylan Coleman became the first Bear true freshman to start and win a game on opening weekend since 1996
- After claiming 24 come-from-behind wins in 2015, MSU rallied for victories in two of their three wins at UCA to open the 2016 campaign
The Missouri State Bears will be gunning for their first 4-0 start to a season since 1999 Friday when they open play at the Governors Challenge in Clarksville, Tenn. MSU will face off against the UConn Huskies in their tourney opener at 11:30 a.m., then take on the Alcorn State Braves at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The Bears will conclude their stay in Clarksville with a 3:30 p.m. game Sunday vs. the host Austin Peay State Governors.
MSU is coming off a strong opening weekend performance against UCA in Conway, Ark., where the Bears swept a three-game series from the Southland Conference foe.
Missouri State will be facing three relative unknowns in the Governors Challenge field, with their lone contest against any of the participants coming two years ago against Alcorn State. The Bears claimed an 8-1 win in Hattiesburg, Miss., in that meeting, their only previous game with the Braves.
The Bears have never faced UConn, while they hold a 4-3 edge over Austin Peay in a series that has been dormant since 1991. MSU swept a three-game series in Springfield that year after the Govs had taken three of the first four meetings in the series that dates to 1976.
With its three-game sweep at UCA, Missouri State is off to its second consecutive 3-0 start. The Bears have won their first three games on nine previous occasions under head coach Keith Guttin, averaging 39 wins and totaling no fewer than 32 victories in any of those seasons.
The Bears, who have posted a .671 overall win percentage in the 16 previous seasons in which they have begun 3-0, have won at least four in a row to start a season on nine occasions, but not since 1999, when they won a school-record eight consecutive games to start the year.
A big factor in the Bears' opening weekend success came in the form of a power surge that saw MSU club five home runs, including three from sophomore All-American Jake Burger, who matched his entire 2015 regular-season home run total in the first two games of the series.
Aaron Meyer set the tone for the weekend in game one, belting a two-run shot on the third pitch of the contest, before Burger sealed the outcome with a three-run blast as part of a seven-run fifth inning. Burger was a one-man wrecking crew in game two, lacing a solo shot in the first inning before winning the game with a mammoth two-run drive in the top of the ninth with MSU trailing by a run.
Despite returning 17 letterwinners and six regular position starters from last year's MVC and NCAA Springfield Regional championship club, MSU saw several freshmen log substantial playing time on opening weekend. In fact, the Bears' opening day lineup featured three true freshman starters in Hunter Steinmetz, Jeremy Eierman and Ryan Mantle. Hitting in the leadoff spot, Steinmetz made his presence known on the season's very first pitch, bouncing a base hit through the UCA infield before scoring two pitches later on Aaron Meyer's two-run homer. For the weekend, Steinmetz hit .333, scored three times and drove home two runs, while reaching base safely in eight of his 16 plate appearances.
Fellow freshman Dylan Coleman earned the victory in MSU's game three win, striking out five and allowing just three hits over 5.0 innings. He became the first true freshman to start and win a game on opening weekend for MSU since 1996, when Bryan Buschhorn defeated UT Arlington in his MSU debut.
