April 8, 2016
- Missouri State is off to its best start in school history with a 24-5 mark and its .828 win percentage is the sixth-best in the Division I ranks this season; the Bears are off to a 7-1 road start after going 21-6 in away contests last year
- The Bears climbed three spots to No. 16 in this week's NCBWA Top 30 poll and moved up to No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll; MSU also remained at No. 16 in this week's Collegiate Baseball poll
- MSU has won nine of its last 10 Valley openers and eight of its last 10 MVC-opening series; the Bears are a combined 20-8 in their opening conference series since 2006
- The Bears rank second nationally in home runs per game (1.34), fourth in slugging (.519), fifth in total runs scored (243) and seventh in on-base percentage (.418)
- MSU shattered a 42-year-old program record for walks drawn in a game Tuesday vs. Saint Louis when the Bears coaxed 18 free passes from the Billikens; the Bears racked up 33 runs in their two midweek wins over SLU and KU, marking their best-ever offensive showing in back-to-back home games at Hammons Field
- Spencer Johnson brings a streak of 44 consecutive games reaching base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch into Friday's game; Johnson also became the first Bear since Jon Hale to hit three home runs in a contest Wednesday Kansas and the first MSU player in 20 years to drive home nine runs in a single game
- Jake Burger, who leads the nation in total bases (92) this season, ranks seventh among all active Division I players in career hitting with a .364 average; the sophomore leads the Valley in batting (.405), home runs (12), hits (49), slugging (.760), RBIs (42)
- Burger and Johnson share the MVC lead and are tied for third nationally with 12 home runs, trailing only Samford's Heath Quinn (14) and Clemson's Seth Beer (13)
- Sam Perez leads the Valley and ranks 19th nationally in strikeouts (56); the senior reliever has made an MVC-high 18 appearances to date, which is good for sixth in all of Division I baseball
After turning in their best-ever two-game offensive stretch at Hammons Field in convincing wins over Saint Louis and Kansas this week, the Missouri State Bears turn their attention to Missouri Valley Conference play with a three-game set against the Bradley Braves this weekend. The Bears (24-5) and Braves will square off in a 2 p.m. contest Friday (April 8) to begin Valley play, then meet again both Saturday and Sunday at noon to conclude the series.
MSU, the reigning MVC regular-season and postseason tournament champion, enters its 26th MVC season as the preseason favorite to repeat as league champion. The No. 16 Bears piled up 33 total runs in sweeping their midweek meetings with Saint Louis and Kansas this week, marking the best offensive showing over back-to-back games since the 2008 season and their top two-game total at home since moving into Hammons in 2004.
The Bears bring a commanding 60-34 advantage in their series with the Braves into the weekend. Last year, MSU took all four meetings with BU, including a three-game sweep at Hammons Field to close out the regular season, as well as a 5-2 win in the title game of the MVC Championship in Wichita.
MSU has dominated the series at home with a 33-12 all-time edge, but has evenly split its 40 road games vs. BU. Two years ago in Peoria, the Bears came from behind for a 6-5 win in the series opener, before splitting a doubleheader the following day to take two out of three from the Braves.
Senior outfielder Spencer Johnson has reached base safely in 44 straight games dating back to May 9, 2015. Along with Hunter Steinmetz, Jake Burger and Justin Paulsen, Johnson has reached base safely in all 29 games this season, and the Springfield, Mo., native has batted .321 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs over his streak. Johnson's stretch represents the longest on-base streak produced by a Bear since the 2008 season, when Ben Carlson reached safely in 56 straight games and Ben Woodbury recorded a 45-game streak.
Both Burger (35 games) and Paulsen (31) also bring lengthy on-base streaks into the conference season, while Steinmetz and Aaron Meyer saw each of their career-best hit streaks come to an end this week. Steinmetz hit .452 (33-for-73) with 10 steals over the course of his 19-game hit streak (March 5-April 2), and Meyer stretched his streak to 20 consecutive games (March 5-April 5) before going hitless for the first time in a month Wednesday vs. Kansas. Meyer batted .355 with 14 RBIs during his hot stretch, which represented the longest hit streak by a Bear since the 2010 season when Kevin Medrano recorded a 29-game streak.
Spencer Johnson turned in a night to remember Wednesday vs. Kansas, belting a first-inning grand slam, a three-run shot as part of a five-run fourth inning and a two-run blast in the seventh to become the first Bear to go deep three times in a game since Jon Hale accomplished the feat on April 20, 1999 against Pittsburg State. The senior outfielder's nine runs batted-in matched the single-game totals of Matt Brewer (April 20, 1989) and Brad Kennedy (May 16, 1996) for the second-best tally in program history, trailing only an 11-RBI effort by John Knott on May 2, 1992. Johnson's mammoth performance represented the eighth three-homer day in school history.
Missouri State broke a 42-year-old school record for walks in a single game Tuesday vs. Saint Louis, drawing 18 free passes in the 15-4 victory. That figure eclipsed the previous MSU single-game high of 16 bases on balls, set on April 19, 1974 vs. Missouri S&T. Matt Fultz accounted for four of the walks, while freshmen Jeremy Eierman and Hunter Steinmetz combined to draw five free bases.
