SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Missouri State softball team continues its home stand with a 5 p.m. matchup against No. 25 Arkansas (21-6) at Killian Stadium, Tuesday, Mar. 21. The Bears (13-11), who went 3-2 last week, will face their second nationally-ranked opponent of the 2017 season.
 

Missouri State (13-11) vs. No. 25 Arkansas (21-6)
Date & Time	Tuesday, Mar. 21 | 5 p.m.
Location	Springfield, Mo.
Site	Killian Stadium
Follow Along	Live Stats | ESPN3
Missouri State	Game Notes | Softball Home Page | Twitter

The Starting Nine

• Erika Velasquez Zimmer (Jr., Coppell, Texas) matched a career best with a 13-game hitting streak from Feb. 18 to   March 16. The only Bear to hit safely in more games over the last 12 seasons is Rebecca McPherson who had a hit in 15 straight contests in 2015. Zimmer is hitting a team-high .432 (4th in MVC/69th in NCAA) with 44 total bases.
• Darian Frost (So., Lee's Summit, Mo.) hit a game-tying, two-out, inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the sixth inning in Sunday's game against Northern Iowa. It was Frost's third home run of the season, which matches a team high, and was the first-ever, inside-the-park homer in Killian Stadium history.
• MSU head coach Holly Hesse entered the 2017 campaign ranked 36th among all active NCAA Division I coaches with 726 career victories. Hesse is in her 29th season at the helm of the Bears and now owns a 739-732-2 (.502) career ledger. She has earned two conference Coach of the Year honors and coached five NCAA Tournament teams.
• Junior Holly Kelley (Cypress, Texas) had two impressive relief outings last week. First in Stillwater, where she threw 3.0 scoreless innings in relief to close out a 7-3 win over the Oklahoma State Cowgirls. In Sunday's game against UNI, Kelley came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded and nobody out and recorded a strikeout and a double play to stop the Panthers' extra-inning rally. Kelley also pitched a shutout inning in relief in Saturday's 6-0 MVC win over UNI at home. For the week, she was 2-1 in the circle with a 2.80 ERA in 15 innings of work.
• The Bears have turned 11 double plays through their first 24 games (0.46 per game), which ranks 35^th among the national's 291 Division I programs. Mary Stephens (Sr. Sochse, Texas) has been part of nine double plays, tops among all MVC.
• MSU's last win over a ranked program came on March 19, 2008 with a 3-2 win over No. 11 Oklahoma in Norman.
• Velasquez Zimmer's 35 hits ranks third among all Missouri Valley Conference players. She and Madison Jones (Jr., Overland Park, Kan.) also share the MVC lead in triples with three apiece.
• Missouri State has matched or out-hit 10 of its last 11 opponents and is 7-4 in that span.
• Senior Bethany Sullinger (Kansas City, Mo.) is expected to make her 100th career start in tonight's game. The fourth-year standout has played in 143 games and is batting .287 overall with 9 home runs and 74 RBI.

 
Head Coach Holly Hesse
Holly Hesse (Creighton, 1982) is 739-732-2 (.502) in her 29th season as head coach at Missouri State and overall.
 
She the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history and joined the 700-victory club with a 4-0 win at Illinois State on April 18, 2015, completing a doubleheader sweep in Normal, Ill.
 
She is also the winningest softball coach in Missouri State history. Her tenure includes two regular-season MVC titles, five MVC tournament crowns and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Hesse recorded her 300th win in 2000, her 400th win in 2004, her 500th in 2007 and victory number 600 in 2012.  Missouri State leads all schools with 70 wins in the MVC Tournament and Hesse has the second-most MVC Tournament wins with 49.
 
Hesse's 2016 squad finished ranked 13th in the country with a .973 fielding percentage. The Bears went 22-30 and earned a spot in the MVC Tournament in a do-or-die series to end the regular season.  Her team rallied to the challenge and carried the momentum to the MVC Tournament quarterfinals.
 
The Series
Having played 38 games since 1997, the Bears and Razorbacks enter Tuesdays' matchup tied with 19 wins apiece in the all-time series. Over its last 10 meetings against Arkansas, Missouri State is 4-6, earning the most-recent victory in an 11-1, run-rule contest on March 23, 2015 in Fayetteville, Ark. Allowing only four hits, the Bear defense held the Razorbacks to just one run while Kaitlin Beason and Mary Stephens each had two hits and two RBI. Then-senior Erin Duewel launched her sixth home run of the season and 19th of her career, tying for the third-most in program history. The Bears' last home victory against Arkansas was April 29, 2008 (5-2). Missouri State is 12-7 at home against the Razorbacks and 0-3 at Killian Stadium.
 
A Look At The Competition: Arkansas
Having fallen to only three teams this season, the Razorbacks enter Tuesday's contest 21-6 overall and 2-4 in the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas led off the season with an eight-game win streak before falling to Florida Atlantic 3-1 on Feb. 24. The Razorbacks' other losses came at the hands of No. 9 Alabama and No. 14 Tennessee. The squad has earned several victories over a pair of MSU opponents this season, including two run-rule games over UMKC and a 7-6 decision over Oklahoma State.
 
As a team, Arkansas carries a .333 batting average that ranks 19^th in the NCAA. Tied for third in nation with 12 home runs, senior Nicole Schroeder leads team with a .464 batting average, eight doubles, 40 RBI, 78 total bases and an astounding 1.130 slugging percentage that leads the nation. She ties with teammate Autumn Russell for the most hits, racking up 32 through 27 games this season. This season, 10 Razorbacks have combined for 34 home runs.
 
The Arkansas pitching staff has found success as well, combining for a 2.12 staff ERA. Freshman Autumn Storms has seen the most time in the circle, leading the hurlers with a 1.54 ERA and 9-4 record. The Temecula, Calif., native has recorded 51 strikeouts over a staff-high 77.1 innings pitched. The Arkansas senior staff member, Grace Moll has a near-perfect 8-1 record and has racked up a team-high 58 strikeouts.
 
The Razorbacks look to head coach Courtney Deifel, who is in her second year at the helm for the Arkansas softball team.
 
Final Details
First pitch against the Razorbacks is slated for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, at Killian Stadium. For more information on the Missouri State softball team, visit missouristatebears.com or follow @MSUSoftball on Twitter.