April 8, 2016
Southern Illinois at Missouri State
Killian Stadium - Springfield, Mo.
SIU Series Notes 
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The Missouri State softball team (13-19, 2-5) hosts Southern Illinois (21-11, 5-3) for Legacy Weekend at Killian Stadium. The Bears will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1996 MVC Tournament winning team, the first of three-straight titles by the Bears, and the 10th anniversary of the 2006 MVC Tournament champions that set a school record with 40 wins. An on-field ceremony will occur between games to recognized the accomplishments of these teams and the members who have returned to campus this weekend.
Last season, MSU beat SIU on the final day of the regular season to lock up the second seed in the 2015 MVC Tournament and a bye into the semifinals. This season, the Bears enter the weekend looking to snap out of a recent offensive funk and break a three-game losing streak.
Junior pitcher Erin Struemph has been racking up strikeouts at a near-record rate. In game one last Sunday at Loyola, the St. Thomas, Mo. native struck out a career-high 13 batters, the most by a Missouri State pitcher since 2011. She added eight more strikeouts against Central Arkansas on Wednesday and has 424 in her career, the sixth-most in school history.
Senior Erin Duewel leads the Bears with six home runs and 22 RBI. All six of her home runs have come with at least one runner on base and her three-run blast in the first inning at Arkansas on March 29 was her 19th career homer, tied for third in MSU history. Duewel also ranks second in the school history with a career .483 slugging percentage.
Missouri State's defense continues to be among the best in the nation. The Bears top the MVC with a .979 fielding percentage, a figure that ranks MSU third in the country entering this weekend. It is the sixth-consecutive week that the Bears have been in the top-5 nationally.
As a team, the Bears pitch selection at the plate continues to get better. MSU has struck out a league-low 119 times and are one of five MVC teams with more strikeouts by its pitching staff than by its hitters.
QUICK HITS
- Senior Erin Duewel belted her sixth home run of the season on March 29 at Arkansas. It was her 19th career long ball, tying her for third in MSU history.
- Junior pitcher Erin Struemph struck out a career-high 13 Loyola Ramblers in game one in Chicago on Sunday. It was the most strikeouts in a game by an MSU pitcher since 2011 and tied for most in MVC this season.
- Struemph has 424 career strikeouts, the sixth-most strikeouts in program history.
- Missouri State's defense enters the weekend ranked third in the country with a .979 fielding percentage. It is the sixth-straight week MSU is ranked in the top-5 nationally.
- The Bears have struck out the fewest times (119) among all MVC teams this season.
- All four of sophomore Kaitlin Beason's home runs have come in the same game in which she has been the pitcher of record.
- Redshirt sophomore Allie Alvstad singled to right against Omaha on March 11, her first hit since returning to the team after beating leukemia.
SCOUTING REPORT
Southern Illinois Salukis: SIU's unbeaten run in Valley play came to an abrupt end with a sweep by Drake in Des Moines last weekend. But the Salukis got back in the win column by doubling up Murray State, 10-5, on Thursday to run the season record to 21-11 entering this weekend's series. SIU leads the league with a 2.61 ERA and 11 shutouts. Freshman Brianna Jones own a 16-5 record with a 1.76 ERA and her eight shutouts ranks third in the nation. Offensively, junior Shaye Harre tops the team with a .371 batting average and a league-high nine home runs. Southern Illinois owns a 50-44 series advantage and took two-of-three from the Bears in Carbondale last season.
700 AND COUNTING
Head coach Holly Hesse is second in all-time wins by an MVC coach with 717. She entered 2016 with the 37th-most wins among active Division I head coaches. With a 4-0 victory over Illinois State on April 18, 2015, Hesse earned milestone win 700. She trails only current Illinois State coach Melinda Fischer (969 wins in MVC).
BEARS SOFTBALL IS ON THE AIR
The Missouri State softball team will see all of its home games live streamed through Bears All-Access on MissouriStateBears.com.
Some MSU home games will air on KBFL (1060 AM) and can be heard online via RadioSpringfield.com.
2016 Remaining Broadcast Schedule
Wednesday, April 13 vs. Tulsa [KBFL]
Wednesday, April 20 vs. Wichita St. (DH) [KBFL]
Wednesday, April 27 vs. SIU Edwardsville [KBFL]
LEGACY WEEKEND UPCOMING
Missouri State will celebrate the championship teams from 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2006 during Legacy Weekend at Killian Stadium. The Bears will invite back players from those title teams on April 9-10 with on-field celebration slated for Saturday, April 9. Tickets for Legacy Weekend can be purchased at the Killian Stadium gates on game day.
DUEWEL LANDS IN RECORD BOOK
Senior Erin Duewel belted her 19th career home run in the first inning at Arkansas on March 29. That total lands the Lee's Summit native in a tie for third on the all-time career homers list. Duewel's blast against the Razorbacks was her team-leading sixth long ball of the year and third in the last five games.
MILESTONE STRIKEOUT
Junior Erin Struemph is already making waves in the MSU annuls. She picked up three strikeouts in the March 29 start at Arkansas. With her strikeout of UA's Lauren Archuleta to end the second inning, Struemph became just the sixth pitcher in MSU history with 400 career strikeouts.
Struemph has been at her best since conference play started. She tossed a complete game three-hitter in a win over Illinois State on March 19, her first MVC start of the year. Then in the Bradley series, she fired a complete game shutout in the opener and allowed a single run in a complete game in the series finale. Then at Arkansas, Struemph allowed one run in her fourth-consecutive start with four or fewer hits allowed.
TRIUMPHANT RETURN
The Bears eagerly anticipated the inspirational return of redshirt sophomore Allie Alvstad. She missed the entire 2014-15 academic year to battle through acute myeloid leukemia. She received a bone marrow transplant in December 2014 and returned to the team in 2015-16.
In her first plate appearance of the season, Alvstad drew a four-pitch walk against Northern Colorado on Feb. 13. On Feb. 19, she drove in her first run of the season with a pinch-hit ground out at Western Kentucky. Alvstad registered her first hit since returning with a single to right field on March 11 versus Omaha in Lawrence, Kan.
TAKE YOUR BASE
This season, the Bears have drawn 73 bases on balls and have been hit by a pitch 13 times. MSU received a free pass to first base by one or both of these means in 29 of the 32 games this season. In the Feb. 13 game versus Northern Colorado, MSU drew 12 walks, one shy of the single-game program record set in 2004.
PRESEASON PICK
Missouri State received more first-place votes than any other Valley squad, but finished second in a top-heavy Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches poll released by the league office on January 27. The Bears also were well represented on the preseason All-MVC team with senior Erin Duewel, junior Erin Struemph and sophomore Erika Velasquez Zimmer earning nods. All three players were All-MVC first team members in 2015.
FROM START TO FINISH
Missouri State saw its starting pitcher toss a complete game in five of the Bears' first eight games on 2016. Struemph opened the season with a complete game against Texas Southern (Feb. 12). Beason tossed a career-long nine inning game later in the day against Detroit. Struemph and Beason returned later in the weekend with identical three-hit complete game shutouts of Northern Colorado.
The Bears have maintained the start-to-finish pace in the circle. Led by Struemph's 10 complete games, MSU starters have completed 15 of the 32 games this season.
MAD HITTING STREAK
Sophomore Madison Jones went on a career-best seven-game hitting streak beginning on Feb. 26 and hit safely in 11 of the next 13 games. Her torrid pace began with a two-hit performance against Austin Peay. The next day, she had a career-high four hits in the Bears' win over Mercer.
Jones had three-consecutive two-hit games to open the Cancer Awareness Tournament in St. Louis. During her seven-game hitting streak, Jones had five multi-hit games and a batting average of .609.
CLUBBING FOR A CAUSE
Sophomore Kaitlin Beason boasts a powerful bat in addition to a reliable arm in the circle. She put both aspects of her game together at the Cancer Awareness Tournament in St. Louis. On March 4, she earned the win in relief against UMKC. She also hit a three-run home run in the game against the Kangaroos.
She returned the next day and pitched 5.0 innings to earn the victory over SEMO. In the win over the Redhawks, Beason belted two home runs, her second career multi-homer game. One of her blasts was her first career grand slam, helping her own cause in the circle.
Beason continued the trend with a home run against UNI on March 12. She pitched 6.0 innings in the start against the Panthers, striking out a career-high four batters.
ROARING INTO BLUEGRASS STATE
Missouri State made its first-ever trip to the state of Kentucky for the second weekend of play. The Bears left little doubt that they were ready to play when the team racked up 17 hits and scored in all but the first inning in a 11-3 win over host Western Kentucky (Feb. 19). Junior Olivia Roark had a career-best three hits and had one of MSU's six doubles in the game, tying a single-game program record.
In day two action, senior Jessie Van Es pitched a career-long 8.0 innings of shutout ball, but a walk-off sac fly by Murray State spoiled the party in a 1-0 nine-inning defeat. In the weekend's finale, MSU got a pair of doubles from Stephens and Roark extended her hitting streak to three games, but the Bears suffered a second-straight walk-off loss to end a weather-shortened trip to the Bluegrass State.
LONE STAR STUD
Sachse, Texas-native Mary Stephens had yet another fantastic weekend in her home state on opening weekend. She blasted a seventh-inning game-tying home run against Detroit on Feb. 12. The next day, she hit another home run, a two-run shot in the first inning of a win over Northern Colorado. After recording a single against host UT Arlington, she ran her hitting streak to four games with a 3-for-4 outing on Feb. 14 versus UNC.
On the weekend, Stephens hit .400 with a team-leading two home runs and four RBI. She also drew three walks, scored four runs and had a .800 slugging percentage.
BEASON'S BEAST WEEKEND
Beason had a breakout weekend in Texas to open the season. The Webb City, Mo.-native notched three career-bests on the weekend. In the season opener versus Texas Southern, she drove in four runs for the first time in an MSU uniform. That same day, she took to the circle and pitched all nine innings against Detroit, three innings longer than her previous long outing. Then on Sunday (Feb. 14), Beason drew three walks against Northern Colorado, her first career multi-walk game.
WAITING IN THE WINGS
Head coach Holly Hesse has commitments from three players to join the 2017 squad. Joining the Bears for the 2016-17 academic year are Erin Griesbauer (Blue Springs, Mo.), Darby Joerling (Defiance, Mo.) and Carsten Warner (Nevada, Mo.).
