Missouri State Bears (0-0) at Lake Area Classic
Dates:	Friday, Feb. 17 - Sunday, Feb. 19
Location:	Lake Charles, La.
Site:	Joe Miller Ballpark (1,500)
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM (Corey Riggs)
Follow:	Live Video  |  Live Stats  |  @MSUBearBaseball
Game 1: Game 2:      Game 3:	vs. Rhode Island  |  Friday - 11 a.m.  vs. Stony Brook  |  Saturday - 1 p.m.  at McNeese State  |  Sunday - 2:30 p.m.
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Rhode Island  |  Stony Brook  |  McNeese
Series Histories:	URI - first meeting  |  SBU leads 1-0  |  McNeese leads 3-1
Tickets:	McNeeseSports.com or (337) 562-4678

PRIME 9

• Missouri State will be looking for its fifth-consecutive opening day win Friday; the Bears are 22-12 in openers under head coach Keith Guttin and 34-19 overall in season lid-lifters
• The Bears, who return 15 letterwinner's from last year's 38-21 squad, were tabbed for a third-place Missouri Valley Conference finish by the league's coaches in the Valley's annual pre-season poll
• The Bears are 2-4 in two previous treks to Lake Charles, most recently going 1-2 in a 2001 trip; MSU is 1-3 all-time vs. McNeese State and 0-1 vs. Stony Brook, while Friday's season opener will be its first meeting with Rhode Island 
• MSU clubbed 80 home runs in 2016, more than doubling their 2015 team total of 39 long balls; All-American Jake Burger is the top returning home run hitter in Division I baseball after pounding 21 balls out of the park last spring
• The Bears ranked third nationally in slugging (.500) and fifth in home runs (80) as a team in 2016 
• Burger was a unanimous 2017 preseason All-America choice and was added to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list Wednesday, while senior closer Bryan Young was named to the NCBWA's Stopper of the Year watch list for the third consecutive year
• Missouri State has 41 combined come-from-behind victories over the last two seasons
• MSU has rallied from a deficit to win or posted a last at-bat victory in each of their last four opening-day victories
• The Bears have amassed a 50-13 regular-season record against non-conference foes over the last two seasons, including a 26-9 mark in road or neutral-field games against non-MVC competition

LEADING OFF
The Missouri State Bears will open the 2017 season this weekend when they travel to Lake Charles, La., to take part in the Lake Area Classic at Joe Miller Ballpark. The Bears will open their 54th season of varsity baseball Friday (Feb. 17) with an 11 a.m. game against the Rhode Island Rams, before taking on the Stony Brook Seawolves Saturday at 1 p.m., and the host McNeese State Cowboys at 2:30 p.m. Sunday to conclude the weekend. 
    
This weekend's action marks the first of back-to-back road trips for the Bears to open the new campaign. Following a midweek trip to Tulsa to take on Oral Roberts, MSU will travel to Tennessee next weekend, where the Bears will face off against Belmont (Feb. 24), Lipscomb (Feb. 25) in Nashville, before meeting Middle Tennessee (Feb. 26) in Murfreesboro as part of the Mule Mix Classic.

SERIES HISTORIES
Missouri State will be squaring off against a new foe in Rhode Island to open the season. The Bears have dominated past Atlantic 10 Conference opponents, bringing a cumulative 49-15 all-time mark against the current membership of the league into Friday's game.

The Bears' only previous meeting with Stony Brook — or any America East Conference opponent — was a memorable one, as the two clubs squared off in an elimination game at the 2012 NCAA Coral Gables (Fla.) Regional. One day after knocking host Miami out of its own regional with a 12-2 decision, the Bears rolled to an early 7-2 lead against the upstart Seawolves. But Stony Brook erupted for seven runs in the seventh inning to pull out a 10-7 victory, then claimed the regional crown with two-straight wins over UCF to open their storybook run to the College World Series.

This weekend's trip will be the Bears' third visit to Lake Charles, having made previous treks in 1997 and 2001, when they went a combined 2-4. MSU last met the host Cowboys in 2005 in Hattiesburg, Miss., where the Bears claimed a 6-1 victory after McNeese won the first three meetings in the series. The Cowboys beat the Bears twice in 1997 (11-1 and 3-2), and also picked up a 10-4 win in MSU's last visit to Lake Charles.

LIFTING THE LID
Missouri State is 22-12 in season openers under head coach Keith Guttin and 34-19 overall. MSU is just 15-18 all-time in road/neutral field season openers, but will be looking for its fifth-straight opening day victory away from home Friday. The Bears built an 11-0 lead by the fifth inning in their 2016 season opener at Central Arkansas as part of a three-game series sweep. They also rallied for the first of their 24 come-from-behind wins in 2015 against UT Arlington at the SFA Tipton Ford Classic, following an 11-5 win at UCA three years ago and a 3-2 win at Texas State to kick off the 2013 slate. MSU has employed a potent offense in its openers in recent years, tallying an average of 10.0 runs per outing in its last three season debuts.

Additionally, this weekend's action marks the 17th consecutive year the Bears will open their season on the road. MSU has swept its season-opening slate of action in each of the last two seasons, going 3-0 in Nacogdoches, Texas in 2015 prior to last year's sweep in Conway. The Bears have started each of the last six campaigns with at least six wins in their first 10 games

ROAD TO SUCCESS
MSU has proven to be hard to stop on the road over the past two seasons, logging a 34-16 (.680) record in such contests. The Bears went 13-10 in true road games a year ago, after finishing with a program-record 21 wins in 27 road contests in 2015. MSU's 0.857 win percentage on the road represented their best since 1978, when they posted an identical percentage with a 12-2 road mark. 

Coupled with their 9-3 record in neutral field contests in 2015, the Bears' total of 30 wins away from home was second only to national champion Virginia in the Division I ranks and qualified as the best in school history. 

The Bears also posted the longest road win streak in Division I baseball in 2015, claiming 11 straight victories from March 15 to April 25 — their longest since the 1994 season. 

MMM...THIS IS A TASTY BURGER!
The preseason conversation surrounding the Bears has centered on the man at the hot corner with the chance to become the latest in Missouri State's long line of premium professional prospects as the 2017 MLB Draft moves into focus. Adding to an already impressive list of accolades, junior third baseman Jake Burger was one of 15 players selected by Baseball America for 2017 first-team preseason All-America honors, which are selected by big league scouting directors based on performance, talent and professional potential.
    
Burger, a consensus All-America choice in 2016, was named to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award watch list on Wednesday. He led the Bears in batting (.349) and RBIs (72) last spring and ranked second nationally in home runs (21) to earn a spot on USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team over the summer. The Chesterfield, Mo., native was also named the top defensive third baseman in the country last year as one of nine NCAA Division I standouts selected for the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I Gold Glove Team. 

The Bears' Big Kahuna checked in at No. 27 on BA's College Top 100 Prospects list prior to the start of the season and claimed 2017 preseason All-America recognition from Collegiate Baseball, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Perfect Game USA and D1Baseball as well.

NON-CON DOMINATION
MSU has been nearly unstoppable against non-conference competition over the last two seasons, compiling a 50-13 record in regular-season games versus non-league foes. The Bears have won 24 of their last 28 regular-season non-conference home games, but have been nearly as potent on the road, posting a 17-6 regular-season mark in road or neutral-field contests against non-conference opponents in 2015, while going 9-3 in such games last year.

Over the last two seasons, the Bears have hit .309 as a team overall, while out-scoring their non-conference opponents by a 500-273 margin. MSU has hit 71 homers while allowing only 21 long balls over the same stretch.

COMEBACK KIDS
Missouri State has made a habit of eliminating opposition leads over the last two seasons, totaling 41 come-from-behind victories out of 87 total wins. Last year, the Bears posted 17 comeback wins, on the heels of a 2015 season that saw them claim victory in 24 such contests. 

MSU rallied from its biggest deficit in nearly six years last March vs. Arkansas State, coming all the way back from a 5-0 hole to defeat the Red Wolves by a 15-11 final tally. The Bears' last come-from-behind win after trailing by five runs occurred on May 26, 2010, when MSU overcame a 7-2 deficit against Southern Illinois at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in Wichita.

MSU wiped away early deficits in two of its three opening-weekend victories at Central Arkansas last season. In 2015, the Bears rallied from a 2-0 deficit on opening day to knock off UT Arlington, thanks to a late offensive surge. MSU was particularly resilient in MVC play in 2015, capturing eight of their 18 conference victories in comeback fashion.