April 28, 2016
- Missouri State has claimed 30 road wins since the start of the 2015 season; including neutral-field contests, the Bears have gone 40-15 away from Hammons Field over the last two seasons
- The Bears have been a mainstay in the national polls, earning a top 25 rank in 11 straight weeks to start the season; MSU checks in at No. 23 in both the NCBWA's Top 30 poll and USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll this week
- The Bears rank fourth nationally in slugging (.501), sixth in home runs (52) and 20th in scoring (7.7 rpg.); MSU leads the Valley in nearly every major statistical category, including batting, slugging, on-base percentage, runs, runs batted-in, home runs, triples and total bases
- Matt Dezort brings a .412 (7-for-17) career average vs. Indiana State into this weekend's series; the senior went 6-for-10 against the Sycamores in the Bears' series win in Springfield last season and has batted .321 (18-for-56) in 26 total MVC games over the course of his MSU career
- ?Jake Burger (17) and Spencer Johnson (14) rank first and sixth nationally in home runs, respectively; MSU has won 14 of the 17 games in which either Burger or Johnson has homered and the Bears are 5-1 when both have gone deep in the same game
- Johnson moved into the Bears' top 25 for career hits last weekend, passing Nolan Keane for the No. 25 spot in Saturday's win over Evansville; with 195 hits, Johnson needs three more to catch Steve Aldridge in the 24th spot
- MSU's bullpen has been stingy this season, going 11-1 with 11 saves while holding the opposition to a .224 batting mark; Bryan Young, who has eight saves this spring, currently ranks 11th among all active NCAA Division I pitchers in career saves (24) and second all-time at MSU in career ERA (1.69)
- "Right-hander Jake Fromson has delivered a shutdown performance out of the MSU bullpen in his first season with the Bears, ranking third in the MVC in ERA (2.18) and fourth in opponent average (.198); the sophomore's 7.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks 18th nationally
- "The Bears are 113-7 over the last five years when scoring at least six runs in a game and have rallied for 14 come-from-behind victories in just 39 games this season after posting 24 comebacks last year
After dropping two consecutive Missouri Valley Conference series for the first time since May 2014, the Missouri State Bears hit the road to try and right the ship this weekend with a three-game set against the Indiana State Sycamores in Terre Haute, Ind. The Bears and Sycamores will open their series with a 1:30 p.m. (Central) doubleheader Friday (April 29) at Bob Warn Field, before meeting again Sunday at 12 p.m. to conclude the weekend.
The Bears (28-11, 3-5 MVC) will be looking to bounce back from a 17-9 setback Tuesday at Missouri in midweek action, as well as Valley series losses to Wichita State and Evansville the last two weekends. Indiana State (24-16, 4-5 MVC), meanwhile, will host a Top 25 squad for the second consecutive week after being swept by Dallas Baptist last weekend. The Sycamores started the MVC season by taking two of three games from both Southern Illinois and Illinois State.
Up next, the Bears will host their final non-conference game of the season vs. Arkansas Tuesday (May 3) at 6:35 p.m. at Hammons Field.
MSU brings a 64-41 advantage over the Sycamores into this weekend's action, including a series win over ISU last spring at Hammons Field. The Bears, who have taken six of the last 10 meetings in the series, hold a 25-21 edge over the Sycamores in Terre Haute, despite being swept in their last three-game series with ISU at Bob Warn Field two seasons ago. MSU exacted some measure of revenge in the 2014 MVC Championship, bouncing the host Sycamores from the tournament with a 9-1 decision in an elimination contest.
Last year, the Bears rode 7.0 strong innings from Matt Hall to a 4-1 win in game one of their series with ISU, before the Sycamores evened things up with a 3-2 win in the second contest. Jon Harris then wrapped up the series for MSU with a complete-game victory in which he struck out nine and allowed just three hits, while Cory Kay posted his third consecutive two-hit game vs. ISU in the 6-1 victory.
Through just 39 games in 2016, the Bears have scored at least five times in an inning on 15 occasions. Additionally, MSU has tallied at least three runs in an inning 42 times this spring, going 22-3 in games in which they have logged at least one such big inning.
MSU enters the weekend ranked 24th nationally in runs scored (302) and 20th in scoring (7.7 runs per game), while the Bears' .501 team slugging percentage and their 52 homers rank fourth and sixth in the Division I ranks, respectively.
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, 184 strikeouts and 11 saves while holding the opposition to a .224 batting mark over 160.0 innings this season. In particular, All-American closer Bryan Young has picked up where he left off last year, recording eight saves and an 0.87 ERA to date.
Iron man Sam Perez has recorded a Valley-high 69 strikeouts in a league-best 24 appearances, while combining with fellow right-hander Jake Fromson to go 9-0 with 118 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 19 2/3 consecutive scoreless frames over seven appearances (March 29-April 24).
Bears freshman shortstop Jeremy Eierman has turned in a recent hot stretch that has seen the rookie hit a team-best .418 (23-for-55) with all five of his home runs as a Bear and 20 RBIs over MSU's 14 games in April. The Warsaw, Mo., product has been MSU's leading hitter (.379) in Valley play, and leads all MVC players in slugging (.862) and home runs (4) during league action.
Eierman, who has made all 39 starts at shortstop for MSU this spring, has recorded hits in seven of the Bears' eight conference games and has three multi-RBI games in MVC play, including a four-RBI performance in last Saturday's 10-6 win over Evansville. Overall, Eierman's five home runs represents the most for a Missouri State freshman since Luke Voit and Keenen Maddox each clubbed five long balls in 2010.
