Missouri State Bears (12-3) at Southeast Missouri Redhawks (6-7)
Date:	Wednesday, March 15
Location:	Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Site:	Capaha Field (2,000)
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM (Art Hains)
Follow:	Live Stats  |  @MSUBearBaseball
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Southeast Missouri  |  MVC Notebook
Series History:	Missouri State leads 64-39
Last Meeting:	MSU won 2-1 in Springfield (April 7, 2015)

PRIME 9

• Missouri State rated 12th among all Division I clubs in the NCAA's March 14 RPI rankings; the Bears also received votes in both the NCBWA Top 30 and USA Today Coaches polls for the second-straight week Monday
• The Bears hold a commanding 64-39 advantage over Southeast Missouri in a series that dates back to MSU's inaugural season of 1964; with 103 total games played in the series, the Redhawks are the Bears' most-frequent non-Missouri Valley Conference foe over the 54-year history of the program
• The Bears have outscored the opposition by a 21-0 margin in the sixth inning this season, with Jake Burger going 5-for-6 with four homers and nine RBIs in the sixth this spring 
• MSU's bullpen has allowed just five earned runs on 22 hits and 16 walks, while striking out 61 batters in 50.2 combined innings this season; senior closer Bryan Young shares the top spot on the career saves leaderboard for active NCAA Division I pitchers with a Missouri State record 30 saves, while Jake Fromson and Trey Turner have fanned 33 hitters over 26.2 combined innings, allowing just six hits between them
• Fromson ranks third in hits allowed per 9.0 IP (2.65) and fifth in WHIP (0.53), while Burger also rates among the D-I leaders in home runs (6th) and total bases (31st)
• As a team, the Bears rank second in all of Division I baseball with five shutouts on the season; MSU also ranks fourth in team WHIP (0.98), seventh in hits allowed per 9.0 IP (6.11) and eighth in team ERA (2.15) and 10th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.68)
• With 1,188 wins as MSU's bench boss, Keith Guttin ranks 25th among all NCAA Division I coaches for career victories; he trails Al Ogletree in the No. 24 position by 20 wins
• MSU has produced a total of 45 come-from-behind wins since the beginning of the 2015 season, including four this season
• The Bears have amassed a 62-16 regular-season record against non-conference foes since the beginning of the 2015 season, including a 35-12 mark against non-MVC competition in road/neutral field games over the same stretch

LEADING OFF
After inclement weather postponed their Tuesday game at Saint Louis, the Missouri State Bears will wrap up their five-game road swing Wednesday (March 15) in Cape Girardeau with a 3 p.m. contest against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks at Capaha Field. 

The Bears (12-3) locked up a series win over Minnesota Sunday with a 12-3 victory in Minneapolis, capitalizing on a pair of three-run homers from Jake Burger and Alex Jefferson. Burger, who added a solo shot and drove in five runs on the day, captured Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week honors for his efforts in leading MSU to wins in the final two games of the series at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Southeast Missouri (6-7) will be looking to rebound from being swept in a three-game series with Morehead State to open Ohio Valley Conference play this past weekend. The Redhawks enter Wednesday's game averaging 6.3 runs per game and hitting .297 as a club. 

Up next, the Bears return to Hammons Field to open a four-game home stand Friday (March 17) with a 3:05 p.m. game against Memphis.

SERIES HISTORY
Missouri State holds a commanding 64-39 edge over SEMO in a series that dates all the way back to the Bears' inaugural season of 1964. The Redhawks have been one of MSU's most-frequent opponents, with the 103 total games, ranking behind only Indiana State (110 games), Wichita State (108) and Southern Illinois (104) in terms of series length for Bears' opponents. 

The Bears hold a 27-23 advantage over the Redhawks on their home field and have taken 13 of the last 17 meetings overall in the series. MSU claimed a 2-1 win in the two clubs' last meeting at Hammons Field (April 7, 2015), but SEMO came away with a 6-5 victory the previous year in the Bears' last visit to Capaha Field.

SIXTH SENSE
The Bears continued a recent trend of sixth-inning dominance last week, scoring six times while holding the opposition scoreless in their four games. MSU struck for two runs to even the score in Friday's series opener with Minnesota, then logged a four-run sixth the next day to help secure its 7-2 win. 

For the season, the Bears have outscored their opponents by a combined 21-0 margin in the sixth. Jake Burger has been particulary lethal in the sixth this season, going 5-for-6 with four of his seven homers and nine total RBIs.

WHAT A RELIEF
The Bears' bullpen has been nearly untouchable through the first 15 games of the season, combining to allow just five earned runs while striking out 61 batters and holding the opposition to a .131 batting mark in 50.2 innings. In all, nine different relievers have teamed up to lock down the late innings, as MSU has outscored the opposition by a whopping 43-9 margin from the sixth inning on this season. 

Jake Fromson  led the charge with 16.0 scoreless innings to start the season. The junior has fanned 17 while allowing just five hits in his seven outings to date, holding the opposition to an .096 batting mark. Additionally, senior All-America closer Bryan Young  shares the top spot on the career saves leaderboard for active NCAA Division I pitchers with a Missouri State record 30 saves, and junior Trey Turner has yielded just one hit and struck out 17 over his 9.2 innings of relief.

SHUTDOWN STAFF
While the Missouri State bullpen has received plenty of attention for its red-hot start to the season, the Bears' starting rotation has carried its share of the load as well. Over MSU's last 10 games, Bears starters have allowed three runs or fewer nine times and have combined on four of their Division I-best five shutouts. For the season, MSU starting pitchers have posted a 2.92 ERA with 86 strikeouts in just 83.1 innings.

MSU completed the first string of three consecutive shutouts in school history, Feb. 26-March 3, when the Bears blanked Middle Tennessee (5-0), Arkansas State (13-0) and Central Arkansas (5-0) as part of their eight-game win streak. A total of four different MSU starters and five relievers have combined on shutouts so far this season. Senior left-hander Jordan Knutson has combined on shutouts in two of his first four starts of the season, working 7.0 innings of the Bears' 7-0 win over Stony Brook (Feb. 18), as well as 5 1/3 innings of the Bears' March 3 blanking of UCA.

STRONG START FOR BURGER
Jake Burger continued his early-season surge last week, hitting .357 with three homers and seven RBIs in the Bears' four games to earn the third Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week honor for a Bear through just four weeks of the 2017 season. The junior has hits in 13 of MSU's 15 games to date and has reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in all 15 contests. 

Burger homered three times in the Bears' series win at Minnesota over the weekend and has a Valley-high seven long balls so far this season. The preseason All-American and Golden Spikes candidate has heated up to hit .429 (9-for-21) with five of his homers and 11 RBIs in his last six contests. 

ROAD TO SUCCESS
MSU has proven to be hard to stop on the road over the past three seasons, logging a 41-19 (.683) 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.