Bradley Braves (10-12, 0-0 MVC) at Missouri State Bears (15-9, 0-0 MVC)
Site	Hammons Field (8,000)  |  Springfield, Mo.
Game 1:	Friday, March 31  |  8:02 p.m. (following the conclusion of the Springfield Cardinals-St. Louis Cardinals exhibition) -Box office will be open for MSU-BU ticket sales at 7 p.m.  -Gates will open to MSU-BU game ticket holders at 7:30 p.m., or upon the conclusion of the Cardinals exhibition
Game 2:	Saturday, April 1  |  3:02 p.m.
Game 3:	Sunday, April 2  |  1:02 p.m.
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM
Watch (Sunday):	The Valley on ESPN3
Follow:	Live Stats  |  @MSUBearBaseball
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Bradley  |  MVC Notebook
Series History:	MSU leads 63-36  |  33-12 at home (17-4 at Hammons Field)
Tickets:	MissouriStateBears.com

PRIME 9

• Missouri State will open its 27th season of Missouri Valley Conference play Friday night vs. Bradley; the Bears and Braves have faced off in a conference-opening series on three previous occasions (1993, 2009 and 2016), with the two clubs splitting their weather-shortened series to start MVC play last April
• MSU has won 10 of its last 11 Valley openers and eight of its last 11 MVC-opening series; the Bears are a combined 21-9 in their opening conference series since 2006
• The Bears own a 63-36 all-time edge over the Braves in a series that dates back to 1982; MSU has swept BU in each of its last four regular-season series at Hammons Field and has claimed 14 of the last 17 meetings in the series
• As a team, the Bears rank eighth in all of Division I baseball with five shutouts; MSU also ranks 11th in team ERA (2.67), 10th in team WHIP (1.11) and 12th in hits allowed per 9.0 IP (7.03) and 18th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.17) 
• MSU pitching has allowed 44 fewer runs than the next closest MVC staff (Wichita State), as well as 21 fewer hits than the No. 2 club (Indiana State) and 27 more strikeouts than the Shockers as well
• Jake Burger paces the MVC and ranks among Division I baseball's leaders in home runs (6th), total bases (17th) and slugging (21st); additionally, the junior All-American ranks among the top three Valley hitters in batting (.379), on-base percentage (.456), runs (26), hits (36) and RBIs (26)
• Five MSU hurlers rank among the league's top 10 in individual ERA entering the opening weekend of Valley play; Jake Fromson's 1.71 mark ranks third, while Jordan Knutson (2.75), Austin Knight (2.81), Dylan Coleman (3.06) and Doug Still (3.09) rank seventh through 10th, respectively    
• Knutson has limited Bradley to a .206 batting mark, while logging a 2-0 record and 2.50 ERA in three career starts against the Braves
• Justin Paulsen brings a .306 batting average and a .406 on-base percentage in 40 career MVC games into this weekend's series; both Burger (.301) and Jeremy Eierman (.303) also boast career .300 averages in Valley play 

LEADING OFF
The Missouri State Bears open a three-game series and their 27th season of Missouri Valley Conference play Friday (March 31) when they host the Bradley Braves at Hammons Field. The Bears and Braves are slated to play the second game of a twin bill at Hammons to open the weekend, with Friday's game scheduled at approximately 8 p.m., following the completion of the Springfield Cardinals-St. Louis Cardinals exhibition. Single games will follow on Saturday (3 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.), with the finale marking the Bears' initial 2017 appearance on The Valley on ESPN3.

Missouri State (15-9) enters conference play having dropped eight of its last 13 outings, including a 3-1 decision to Oral Roberts on Tuesday. The Bears' 15 non-conference wins still equals DBU's season total as the top figure among all Valley clubs, while MSU's pitching staff leads the league in team ERA (2.67), opposing batting (.214), strikeouts (225), hits allowed (165), runs allowed (75), walks allowed (71) and extra-base hits allowed (42).

Bradley (10-12) will be riding a four-game win streak into league action after logging a 2-0 win at Illinois on Tuesday. The Braves have been one of the Valley's stronger offensive clubs, ranking fourth in runs scored (140) while boasting the No. 3 overall team batting mark in the conference.

SERIES HISTORY
Missouri State has enjoyed a lengthy run of recent success against the Braves, claiming 14 of the last 17 meetings going back to the 2012 MVC Tournament. Last year, the two clubs split their two regular-season meetings in Peoria, before the Bears won two of three games from the Braves at the MVC Championship in Terre Haute.

Overall, the Bears hold a 63-36 advantage in the series, including a 33-12 mark at home thanks to a seven-game Hammons Field win streak vs. BU and 13 wins in their last 14 home dates with the Braves. Since moving to Hammons in 2004, MSU has gone 17-4 against Bradley at home, with three-game sweeps in each of their last four regular-season (2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015)Valley series with the Braves.

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
While the Bears have posted a Missouri Valley Conference-best 15 non-conference wins to date, MSU will shift its focus to league action this weekend when it hosts Bradley in a three-game set at Hammons Field. The Bears have won 10 of their last 11 Valley openers and have won or split nine of its last 11 MVC-opening series. Additionally, MSU is a combined 21-9 in its opening conference series since 2006.

Several Bears will be looking to build on recent individual successes in Valley play as well. Senior closer Bryan Young has been nearly unhittable in MVC play over the last two seasons, logging a 5-1 mound mark and eight saves while allowing just two earned runs over 27.2 innings spanning 17 appearances. Fellow senior Jordan Knutson has four career victories in Valley play — including two wins over Bradley — and 66 strikeouts in his 79.1 career MVC innings. Offensively, Justin Paulsen is a career .306 hitter with five homers and 29 RBIs in league play. Jeremy Eierman registered one of the top all-around MVC seasons a year ago, leading all Valley players in RBIs (25) while ranking second in homers (5) and third in total bases (44).

SHUTDOWN STAFF
Missouri State's pitching staff has played an integral role in the Bears' non-conference success this spring. The Bears' bullpen has been nearly untouchable through the first 24 games of the season, combining to allow just 13 earned runs (1.49 ERA) while striking out 95 batters and holding the opposition to a .176 batting mark in 78.2 innings. In all, nine different relievers have teamed up to lock down the late innings, as MSU has outscored the opposition by a whopping 73-21 margin from the sixth inning on this season. 

MSU's rotation has been strong as well, combining to fashion a 3.36 ERA and a .234 opponent batting average. Jordan Knutson leads the staff with four wins and has logged four quality starts and five different outings of at least 7.0 innings in his six starts. 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. 

BURGER ON A ROLL
Jake Burger continued his early-season hot streak last week, going 10-for-17 in the Bears four games to earn the fifth MVC Player of the Week nod of his Missouri State career. The MSU third baseman stretched his career-best hit streak to 14 games by logging multi-hit outings in all four contests, before going hitless in four at-bats Tuesday against Oral Roberts.

The preseason All-American and Golden Spikes Award candidate hit a scorching .491 (26-for-53) and slugged .962 with seven homers and 18 RBIs over the course of his career-best hit streak and reached base safely in 24 consecutive games, including the first 23 this season prior to Tuesday's contest. Burger homered three times in the Bears' series win at Minnesota (March 10-12) and ranks sixth in Division I baseball with nine long balls so far this season. 

HOME SWEET HAMMONS
After spending the bulk of the first six weeks of the season away from Hammons Field, the Bears returned to Springfield this week to open a season-long nine-game home stand. MSU has been successful, both at home and on the road so far in 2017, claiming wins in five of its first eight home dates to go along with 10 road/neutral-field victories. 

The Bears will be looking to extend a recent home-field advantage of unprecedented proportions in the history of the MSU program. Since the start of the 2015 season, the Bears have posted a 46-14 (.767) record at Hammons Field, including 29 wins in their last 36 home games versus non-conference foes. The Bears logged a Hammons Field record 22 victories at home last spring after piling up 19 home wins in 2015. Last season, the Bears hit .320 as a team, averaged 8.8 runs per game and out-homered the opposition by a 39-11 margin at Hammons.

SIXTH SENSE
The Bears continued a recent trend of sixth-inning dominance last weekend, posting sixth-inning tallies in two of their three games at Central Michigan. For the season, the Bears have outscored their opponents by a combined 29-2 margin in the sixth, finally allowing their first sixth-inning runs of the season in a March 19 setback to Memphis. 

MSU has tallied at least one sixth-inning run in 12 of its 24 games to date, going 8-4 in those contesets. Jake Burger has been particularly lethal in the sixth this season, going 7-for-11 with four of his nine homers and 10 total RBIs.

BEARS MAKE ESPN3 DEBUT
Sunday's series finale marks the Bears' initial 2017 broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3. Fans can keep tabs on the Bears online with live game coverage thanks to the MVC's media rights agreement that will provide increased visibility of conference events across ESPN platforms through the 2023-24 academic year. This spring, nine different MSU home baseball games will be broadcast on ESPN3:

April 2 vs. Bradley (1 p.m.)
April 7 vs. Dallas Baptist (6:30 p.m.)
April 8 vs. Dallas Baptist (2 p.m.)
April 11 vs. Arkansas (6:30 p.m.)
April 21 vs. Wichita State (6:30 p.m.)
April 22 vs. Wichita State (2 p.m.)
April 25 vs. Missouri (6:30 p.m.)
May 12 vs. Indiana State (6:30 p.m.)
May 13 vs. Indiana State (2 p.m.)