March 21, 2016
- Missouri State's 17-2 start represents the best opening 19-game stretch in the 53-year history of the program
- The Bears moved up two spots to a season peak position of No. 10 in this week's Collegiate Baseball Division I poll, while also rising to No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 and to No. 15 in the NCBWA Top 30 poll
- The Bears are currently in the middle of a Hammons Field-record nine-game home stand; MSU is 9-1 at home, where it has out-homered the opposition by a 19-1 margin while hitting .325 as a team this season
- MSU has homered in 16 of its 19 games and its team average of 1.68 long balls per game is tops in the nation; the Bears are also among the country's top slugging and scoring squads, ranking second in Division I baseball with a .549 team slugging percentage and 11th in the country in runs per game (8.5)
- MSU holds a 40-22 edge over the Red Wolves, including an 18-9 edge on its home field, where the Bears have won their last three meetings with ASU
- Spencer Johnson brings a streak of 34 consecutive games reaching base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch into Tuesday's game; over the course of his streak, which includes the final 15 games of the 2015 season, Johnson has hit .333 (40-for-120) and slugged .675 with nine homers and 32 RBIs
- Jake Burger was named not only a Louisvile Slugger National Player of the Year, but also earne his third MVC Player of the Week honor this season after hitting .556 with four homers in five games last week; Burger shares the Division I lead in home runs (9) and ranks seventh nationally in slugging percentage (.859)
- Burger and Johnson rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the Valley in slugging, runs scored, RBIs, home runs and total bases; the duo also ranks among the top 20 Division I players nationally in both homers and slugging percentage
- Both Aaron Meyer and Hunter Steinmetz bring 11-game hit streaks into Tuesday's game; Meyer is hitting .409 over his hot stretch, while Steinmetz is batting a team-best .488 (20-for -41) with 13 runs scored, six RBIs and seven of his league-leading eight steals during his streak
The Missouri State Bears continue their nine-game home stand with a non-conference midweek contest against the Arkansas State Red Wolves Tuesday (March 22) evening at Hammons Field. The Bears and Red Wolves will engage in the first night game at Hammons this season at 6:35 p.m.
The Bears enter the game riding an eight-game win streak after sweeping Iowa in a three-game series over the weekend. MSU brings a 9-1 home mark into the contest The Bears have been dominant on their home turf, out-homering the competition by a 19-1 margin at Hammons Field this season.
ASU dropped two of three games to Georgia State over the weekend and enters Tuesday's game with a season mark of 10-9.
The Bears bring a 40-22 overall advantage over Arkansas State into Tuesday's game, including two straight wins and three victories in a row on their home turf vs. the Red Wolves. MSU holds an 18-9 edge over ASU in Springfield and has claimed seven of 11 previous meetings at Hammons Field.
Last year, MSU took advantage of a pair of two-run doubles and some clutch pitching to claim a 6-3 decision over ASU in Jonesboro. Sam Perez has earned wins over ASU in each of the last two meetings in the series, tossing 8 1/3 innings of four-hit relief two years ago in a 5-4 victory in Springfield.
Missouri State entered the season ranked as high as No. 17 in Collegiate Baseball's Division I poll -- it's highest preseason ranking ever -- and moved up to No. 10 in this week's edition. The Missouri Valley Conference favorite racked up a school-record 49 wins last spring en route to capturing both the MVC regular-season and conference tournament titles. MSU will welcome back 17 letterwinners and five regular position starters from last year's club that earned the No. 8 national seed in the NCAA Championship and captured the Springfield Regional crown to advance to its second Super Regional.
Sophomore third baseman Jake Burger and junior closer Bryan Young each earned spots on multiple preseason All-America squads following breakthrough 2015 campaigns. Burger was a third-team All-America choice after establishing himself as one of The Valley's top corner men in his rookie season. Young was equally as impressive, picking up first-team All-America recognition from the NCBWA after leading the MVC with a Bears single-season record 16 saves, which ranked third nationally.
Senior outfielder Spencer Johnson joined the duo on the All-MVC preseason team after hitting a career-best .310 with 17 multi-hit games and a team-best 50 runs scored last year. The Bears' trio of preseason honorees will be surrounded by seasoned veterans, including senior catcher Matt Fultz, junior outfielder Blake Graham and junior first baseman Justin Paulsen, each of which registered big years last spring to help stabilize MSU's balanced lineup. On the mound, the Bears will have a deep stable of returners to work with, led by junior left-hander Jordan Knutson, who is expected to take over the Friday starter role on the heels of a breakthrough 2015 season. Knutson fashioned a 6-2 record to go along with his 3.16 earned run average. Senior righty Sam Perez is expected to once again help stabilize the relief corps after going 9-1 with a save in his 27 appearances spanning 68.0 total innings last spring.
For the third time in the first five weeks of the 2016 season, Jake Burger was tabbed the Missouri Valley Conference's Player of the Week Monday. Burger played an instrumental role in a 5-0 week for Missouri State, going 10-for-18 (.556) with four homers, eight RBIs and nine runs scored, while reaching base safely in 12-straight plate appearances at one point. The All-America third baseman logged back-to-back four-hit games against WIU, including his second two-home run game of the season in a 4-for-4 effort in which he accounted for nine runs scored with his four RBIs and five runs scored. He also went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, a double and a homer in the first game of the series.
Burger, who also earned national player of the week honors from Collegiate Baseball Monday, became the first Bear since Brooks Colvin in 2004 to score five times in a single game and completed the two-game series vs. WIU with eight hits - including three long balls - in nine at-bats. He capped his week with another multi-hit game in the Bears' come-from-behind 8-6 win over Iowa that wrapped up a series sweep of the 2015 NCAA Regional-qualifying Hawkeyes. Burger homered in the fourth inning before driving in the game-winning run in the eighth, finishing 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
The Chesterfield, Mo., native shares the national home run lead with Samford's Heath Quinn and also ranks third in the country in total bases (67), 15th in hits (34), 16th in RBIs/game (1.37) and 19th in batting average (.436). He leads the Valley in virtually every major offensive statistical category, including all three triple crown (home runs, RBIs and batting average) measures. The sophomore became the second-fastest MSU player to reach double digits in home runs in a season Sunday when he crushed his 10th long ball of the year against Iowa. Jason Hart is the only previous Bear to reach the mark quicker, launching his 10th long ball in game No. 16 of the 1998 season en route to a 28-homer campaign.
Missouri State continued to prove that no lead is safe for the opposition, rallying from early deficits to win all three of its weekend contests against Iowa. The Bears erased a 1-0 deficit to claim a 4-1 win in the opening game of the series, before overcoming leads of 3-0 in game two and 6-2 in the finale. MSU's 8-6 victory in Sunday's game matched its biggest comeback in five years, equaling a pair of wins last season that came after the Bears found themselves in four-run holes. The Bears already have rallied for 10 come-from-behind wins this season after posting 24 comebacks last spring.
Spencer Johnson extended his string of consecutive games reaching base safely to 34 in a row with another solid showing at the plate this past weekend. Johnson is one of four Bears, along with Jake Burger, Justin Paulsen and Hunter Steinmetz, who have reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch in each of the Bears' 19 games this season. Additionally, Johnson reached in each of MSU's final 15 games of the 2015 season and has hit .333 with nine homers and 32 RBIs over the course of his streak.
