March 7, 2016
- Missouri State's 9-1 start to the season matches its best opening 10-game stretch in 53 years as a varsity program; the Bears have previously won nine of their first 10 contests on four occasions, but not since 1991, their first season in the Missouri Valley Conference
- The Bears remained at a peak position of No. 12 in this week's Collegiate Baseball poll, while also rising five spots to No. 21 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll
- OSU has won 11 of 17 previous meetings with the Bears, including five straight over the last three seasons; MSU, which is 4-2 vs. OSU in Springfield, had won the previous five games in the series prior to the current Cowboy streak
- MSU has homered in each of its 10 games to date and ranks second in all of Division I baseball with a team average of 1.9 home runs per contest; the Bears also rank among the country's top slugging squads, ranking fourth in the nation with a .562 team slugging percentage
- Spencer Johnson was named one of Collegiate Baseball's Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week Monday after hitting .417 with four home runs and eight RBIs in the Bears' four games last week
- Bryan Young saved his 17th game as a Bear Feb. 20 at UCA and needs to record just one more to match Shaun Marcum's school record of 18
- Freshman shortstop Jeremy Eierman has logged hits in each of his last eight contests, batting .303 (10-for-33) with nine runs scored over the course of his streak; Blake Graham also brings a career-best eight-game hit streak into Tuesday's game, hitting a team-high .440 (11-for-25) with two homers and 10 RBIs during his hot stretch
- MSU's pitching has been solid as well, with the Bears boasting an MVC-best 3.24 team ERA to date; the Bears lead the league in strikeouts (102), while their 10.3 K's/9 IP ranks 11th nationally; freshman Dylan Coleman became the second MSU freshman in the last four years to win his first three starts Sunday, striking out eight while limiting SIUE to one unearned run over 7.0 innings
- With a win Tuesday, the Bears would match their best start to a home slate since moving into Hammons Field in 2004; MSU is a perfect 4-0 at home after last week's action, one win shy of the 2013 Bears' 5-0 start at home
The Missouri State Bears conclude their first home stand of the 2016 season Tuesday (March 8) afternoon when they host the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a 12:05 p.m. contest at Hammons Field.
MSU enters the week ranked as high as No. 12 (Collegiate Baseball) in this week's national polls after sweeping their four games last week. The Bears topped Oral Roberts in midweek action, before taking all three of their games with SIU Edwardsville over the weekend. MSU's 9-1 start matches the best opening 10-game stretch to any season in program history.
Missouri State enters Tuesday's game on the short end of its series with Oklahoma State, which brings an 11-6 mark against MSU into the contest.
Oklahoma State will ride a recent hot streak vs. the Bears into this week's action. The Cowboys, who claimed a 7-2 win in Stillwater last year, have taken five in a row from the Bears on the heels of a five-game win streak for MSU in the series. The Bears have won four of the previous six games in the series contested in Springfield and are 52-58 overall against the current membership of the Big 12 Conference.
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 remained at No. 12 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.
MSU's four-game sweep of last week's action ran its season record to 9-1, matching the Bears' best start in 53 varsity seasons. The Bears last began a season with nine wins in their first 10 games in 1991, their first year in the Valley. MSU has gotten off to 9-1 starts on four previous occasions (1991, 1987, 1981 and 1976), posting a season win percentage of at least .638 in each of those campaigns.
Missouri State continued to binge on the long ball, homering eight times in four games last week to hike its 2016 season total to a league-best 19 dingers. Led by the duo of Jake Burger and Spencer Johnson, who share the MVC lead with five homers, the Bears have hit at least one home run in all 10 contests and have posted multi-homer games in six of those outings.
The early power surge has put the Bears ahead of the 10-game homer rate established by the 1999 MSU squad that obliterated the school record with 144 long balls in a 57-game schedule. Through the first 10 games of that season, the Bears hit 15 home runs, before clubbing No. 19 in game 12 on March 20.
Despite returning 17 letterwinners and six regular position starters from last year's MVC and NCAA Springfield Regional championship club, MSU has utilized several members of its talented class of newcomers over the first three weeks of the season.
Rookie outfielder Hunter Steinmetz, who has batted leadoff each of the Bears' 10 games, posted a team-best .429 (6-for-14) batting mark to go along with three steals last week, while shortstop Jeremy Eierman extended his hit streak to eight games by going 6-for-16 (.375) in MSU's four games. The duo has started all 10 games at their respective positions, combining to hit .328 with 17 runs scored and seven steals in seven attempts over the course of the last eight contests.
Additionally, freshman hurler Dylan Coleman improved to 3-0 on the season with his best outing as a Bear Sunday. The right-hander held SIUE to one unearned run on five hits while fanning a career-best eight hitters in 7.0 innings of an 11-1 victory that ran MSU's win streak to six games. 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.
Missouri State locked up its eighth opening-day victory at Hammons Field with a 5-0 shutout of Oral Roberts last Wednesday. MSU then swept SIU Edwardsville in a three-game set to continue a recent trend of hot starts at home. The Bears have now gone a combined 19-6 in their initial home series over the last nine seasons. Overall, the Bears have compiled a 193-104 (.650) home record in 13 years at Hammons. The Bears' March 2 contest vs. Oral Roberts marked the earliest home opener in four years for MSU, which had not played its first home game before March 14 in either of the last two seasons.
Last spring, the Bears saw an average increase in attendance from 677 to 1,764 per game - an average of nearly 1,100 spectators per contest. Additionally, MSU's first run as a regional host last spring was a smashing success, as 22,772 spectators passed through the Hammons Field turnstiles to witness the Bears sweep the regional and advance to their second NCAA Division I Super Regional berth.
