April 19, 2016
- Missouri State is off to its best start in school history with a 27-8 mark and its .771 win percentage is the 11th-best in the Division I ranks; the Bears have won nine of their 13 road contests and have a 30-10 road mark over the last two seasons
- The Bears remained at No. 16 in this week's Collegiate Baseball poll, while dropping two spots to No. 17 in the NCBWA's Top 30 poll and three slots to No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll
- The Bears rank sixth nationally in slugging (.502), seventh in home runs (44) and 16th in scoring (7.9 rpg.); MSU leads the Valley in nearly every major statistical category, including batting, slugging, on-base percentage, hits, runs, home runs, doubles, triples, home runs, stolen bases and total bases
- Despite claiming a 5-0 victory in their first meeting of the season with ORU, the Bears trail the Golden Eagles by a 30-21 margin in a series that dates back to 1979; ORU holds a 20-9 edge vs. MSU in Tulsa
- MSU has gone just 3-5 while hitting .286 and averaging 5.8 runs in games started by opposing left-handed pitchers; conversely, the Bears have batted .310 and totaled 231 runs (8.6 rpg.) in going 24-3 vs. right-handed starters
- Jake Burger (14) and Spencer Johnson (13) rank fourth and sixth nationally in home runs, respectively; MSU has won 13 of the 14 games in which either Burger and Johnson has homered and the Bears are a perfect 5-0 when both have gone deep in the same game, including their previous win over ORU on March 2
- MSU's bullpen has been stingy this season, going 11-1 with 11 saves while holding the opposition to a .187 batting mark; Bryan Young, who has an MVC-best eight saves this spring, currently ranks ninth among all active NCAA Division I pitchers in career saves (24) and second all-time at MSU in career ERA (1.63)
- Right-handers Sam Perez and Jake Fromson have delivered shutdown performances out of the MSU bullpen as well, combining to go 9-0 with a 2.80 ERA and two saves in 36 total appearances; Perez leads the MVC with 64 strikeouts, while Fromson has strung together 14.2 consecutive scoreless innings over his last six outings
- The Bears are 112-6 over the last five years when scoring at least six runs in a game and have rallied for 13 come-from-behind victories in just 35 games this season after posting 24 comebacks last year
Winners of seven of their nine midweek contests this spring, the Missouri State Bears will be shooting for a season sweep of the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles Tuesday (April 19) evening in a 6:30 p.m. game at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa.
The Bears (27-8), who claimed a 5-0 victory over the Golden Eagles (23-12) in the two clubs' first meeting of 2016 in Springfield on March 2, are coming off a 2-2 week that included their largest-ever win over in-state rival Missouri.
ORU brings a six-game win streak into Tuesday's game after completing a Summit League series sweep of Omaha over the weekend. The Golden Eagles have also enjoyed their share of midweek success this spring, with road wins over Mississippi State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to their credit.
Despite its shutout win over Oral Roberts on March 2, Missouri State has found itself on the short end of its series with the Golden Eagles, bringing a 21-30 all-time mark against ORU into Tuesday's contest. MSU's 5-0 win at Hammons field stopped a two-game losing streak in the series, but the Bears have still dropped four of their last six meetings with ORU. Overall, MSU has won just nine of its 29 games against the Golden Eagles in Tulsa.
In the first meeting of the season, the Bears used solo homers from Eduardo Castro and Spencer Johnson to build a two-run lead, then erupted for three runs in the eighth to seal the outcome. Jake Burger belted a two-run shot to highlight MSU's late rally, before Johnson drove in an insurance run with one of his five sacrifice flies on the season. Andy Cheray struck out a career-high six hitters in 6 1/3 scoreless innings, before Sam Perez and Bryan Young completed the shutout with 2.2 scoreless frames.
Justin Paulsen matched a Missouri State single-game record with three doubles in Saturday's 6-1 win over Wichita State. The junior first baseman became the 20th Bear to tally three doubles in a game and the first since Spencer Johnson accomplished the feat last April in Evansville.
As a team, the Bears equaled a season high with their five doubles vs. the Shockers, and MSU currently leads the MVC with 79 two-base hits. The Bears, who rank 23rd nationally in doubles, could threaten the progam record for two-baggers in a season, which was set by the 2002 squad's 149 doubles.
Missouri State's bullpen has been a driving force behind the Bears' fast start, with the MSU relief corps combining to log an 11-1 record, 162 strikeouts and 11 saves while holding the opposition to a .198 batting mark over 138.2 innings this season. In particular, All-American closer Bryan Young has picked up where he left off last year, recording an MVC-best eight saves and an 0.49 ERA to date.
Iron man Sam Perez has recorded a Valley-high 64 strikeouts in a league-best 21 appearances, while combining with fellow right-hander Jake Fromson to go 9-0 with 103 strikeouts and a pair of saves. In his first season with the Bears, Fromson has quickly emerged as a go-to weapon out of the pen, logging 14 2/3 consecutive scoreless frames over his last six appearances since March 29.
Six has been the magic number for Missouri State over the last five seasons, with the Bears going 22-0 so far this year when scoring at least six times in a game. Since the beginning of the 2012 season, MSU has logged an impressive 112-6 (.949) mark when scoring at least a half-dozen runs. Additionally, the Bears have reached double digit run totals 12 times and are 6-1 on the year in games decided by 10 runs or more.
MSU went 20-1 when scoring at least six runs last season and was a perfect 9-0 in games decided by 10 or more runs. After going 25-2 when breaking the six-run barrier in 2012, the Bears went 15-1 in such games in 2013 before winning 20 of the 22 contests in which they scored six times in 2014.
