PRIME 9
- Missouri State is off to a 6-0 start in Missouri Valley Conference play for the first time since 2001; MSU rejoined Collegiate Baseball's Division I poll with a No. 28 ranking and rated 23rd in the NCAA's RPI report on Monday
- The Razorbacks bring a commanding 53-26 edge vs. Missouri State into their lone meeting of the season with the Bears; MSU swept the two clubs home-and-home series last spring and has gone a combined 7-3 against SEC schools over the last two seasons
- All but one of MSU's 10 setbacks have been by three runs or fewer, including five one-run losses; the Bears have hit just .146 (12-for-82) with runners in scoring position in their 10 defeats, but .318 (78-for-245) in their 21 victories
- As a team, the Bears rank seventh nationally in WHIP (1.12), 11th in hits allowed per 9.0 IP (7.12) and 13th in shutouts (5), ERA (2.81) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.16)
- Jake Burger and Jeremy Eierman have combined to post the top home run total for Division I teammates this spring with 24 round-trippers in just 31 games to date; the duo shares the MVC lead with 12 homers apiece
- Burger also paces the MVC and ranks among the Division I leaders in slugging (10th) and total bases (12th); the junior leads all MVC hitters in on-base percentage (.469) and RBIs (34) as well
- Eierman has been one of the MVC's hottest hitters in league play, hitting .524 and slugging a Valley-best 1.286, while also leading the circuit in runs scored (9), hits (11), RBIs (11), homers (5) and total bases (27) in MSU's six games
- Four MSU hurlers rank among the league's top 10 in both individual ERA and strikeouts; Jake Fromson's 1.73 ERA leads the MVC, while his 40 K's is sixth; Jordan Knutson paces the league in strikeouts (55) and his 2.53 ERA ranks third; Doug Still ranks fourth in ERA (2.74) and fifth in strikeouts (47); Dylan Coleman is fourth in strikeouts (48) and sits in the No. 10 spot for ERA (3.54)
- The Bears have gone 52-15 (.776) at Hammons Field since the start of the 2015 season, including 29 wins in their last 37 non-conference home games over the same timeframe
LEADING OFF
After logging their second straight MVC series sweep over the weekend, the
Missouri State Bears will engage the
Arkansas Razorbacks Tuesday evening in a 6:30 p.m. matchup to conclude their season-long nine-game home stand at Hammons Field.
Tuesday's game will kick off a stretch of five consecutive non-conference contests for Missouri State (21-10), which improved to 6-0 in MVC play with its three-game sweep of defending Valley champ and 2017 preseason favorite Dallas Baptist. Led by three home runs from
Justin Paulsen, the Bears went deep a total of 10 times in the series to record the first conference series sweep of DBU since the Patriots joined the MVC in 2014.
Following Tuesday's game, the Bears will travel to Albuquerque to take on New Mexico in a three-game series, before meetings with Saint Louis (April 17) and Missouri (April 18) conclude their five-game road swing.
Arkansas (25-8) has enjoyed a bounceback 2017 campaign, winning 24 of its first 30 games before dropping its first SEC series of the season to LSU this past weekend. The Razorbacks have won 19 of 22 home games and rank among the top home run hitting clubs in Division I baseball with 45 long balls as a team.
SERIES HISTORY
Arkansas holds a commanding 53-26 all-time edge over Missouri State in a series that dates back to 1966. The Bears are 13-20 vs. the Razorbacks in Springfield, but recorded a 14-6 win in the two clubs' 2016 meeting at Hammons Field (May 3) to stop a five-game home skid in the series.
The Bears also picked up their third win in two years at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville (May 17), as three hurlers combined on a one-hit, 8-2 victory to secure MSU's first season sweep of the Razorbacks since 2006.
Jeremy Eierman went 5-for-5 with a pair of home runs, while
Austin Knight held the Razorbacks to a first-inning infield single, before
Sam Perez and
Bryan Young combined four four no-hit innings of relief to close out the win.
STILL PERFECT
Missouri State is off to a 6-0 start in MVC play for just the third time in 27 seasons as a member of the Valley. The Bears have gone on to finish first or second in the league race in each of the previous two seasons (1994 and 2001) in which they started 6-0 in MVC play. Additionally, the Bears logged the first three-game, regular-season series sweep of DBU by a Valley club this past weekend and ran their overall MVC win streak to 10 games, dating back to their 5-3 win over the Patriots on May 15, 2016 in Dallas.
The Bears' current win streak is their second of at least 10 games in Valley play in the last three seasons. Missouri State won its final 10 MVC games in 2015, then captured its 2016 conference opener to run its Valley win streak to 11 games. MSU's longest MVC win streak occurred from May 9, 1993 through April 17, 1994, when the Bears won their final four conference games of the 1993 season before getting off to their best-ever start in Valley play the next spring by winning eight in a row to open the MVC slate.
QUALITY AND QUANTITY
The Bears' starting rotation has put together an impressive stretch over the last two weeks with nine quality starts in MSU's last 14 games. This past weekend, the trio of
Jordan Knutson,
Dylan Coleman and
Doug Still combined to limit Dallas Baptist to just one run in the first five innings of each contest in MSU's sweep, allowing the Bears to take leads of at least two runs into the sixth inning in all three outings.
MSU would outscore the Patriots by a 15-1 combined margin in the first five innings and the three Bears starters combined to strikeout 26 DBU hitters over their 21.0 innings of work. After posting just 16 quality starts as a staff in 2016, the Bears have already matched that total through the first 31 games of the regular season this spring.
DOING IT WITH 'D'
The Bears have employed the familiar formula of pitching and defense to post a strong start to the 2017 season. MSU leads all Valley teams in team fielding percentage (.978), ranking 30th among all Division I clubs. On the mound, the Bears have logged a conference-best 2.81 team ERA to go along with a league-leading strikeout total (291) and an MVC-low opponent batting mark of .214. MSU has recorded the top five team fielding percentages in program history over the last five years, while also turning in three of the lowest team ERA's over the same stretch.
EIERMAN, KNUTSON SWEEP MVC HONORS
It was yet another sweep for the Bears Monday, as
Jeremy Eierman and
Jordan Knutson were named Missouri Valley Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, after helping the Bears extend their perfect Valley start with three wins over Dallas Baptist this past weekend.
Additionally, Knutson was selected by Collegiate Baseball as one of its national players of the week Monday, after the Bears left-hander dominated Dallas Baptist to win his fifth game of the season in Friday night's 5-1, series-opening victory. The Lee's Summit, Mo., product limited a high-powered Patriots lineup to two hits over eight innings while striking out a career-high 13 hitters. Knutson held DBU hitless over the first 5 1/3 innings and yielded the lone Patriot run of the night on a solo homer in the sixth.
Eierman was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week for the third time in 2017 Monday, on the heels of a big weekend that helped spur the Bears' sweep of Dallas Baptist. The sophomore batted .556 (5-for-9) with a pair of home runs, five runs scored and five RBIs in the series to help MSU log its first 6-0 Valley start in 16 years. Eierman recorded RBIs in each of MSU's four games and hit .385 overall for the week.
LIGHT-TOWER POWER
The Bears cranked up their power game this past weekend to turn the tables on DBU, the league's top home-run hitting club. MSU went deep at least three times in each of the three games in the series, including a season-high four homer day in Saturday's 11-8 victory. With 38 home runs on the season, the Bears moved up to 17th in the national rankings for team home runs.
In all, six different Bears left the yard in the three-game sweep, as MSU out-homered the Patriots by a 10-4 margin.
Justin Paulsen homered three times in the first two games of the series, while
Jeremy Eierman clubbed his 11th and 12th long balls of the season to pull even with fellow Bear
Jake Burger for the Valley's top home run total.
DIGGING THE LONG BALL
After the MSU duo of
Spencer Johnson and
Jake Burger teamed up to post the top combined home run total in Division I baseball last spring, the Bears can boast the top 1-2 power punch in the nation again this season. Burger is once again a key component in the middle of the MSU order with a Valley-best 12 long balls to date, while sophomore shortstop
Jeremy Eierman matched that total with two key homers vs. DBU over the weekend.
Burger's first-inning homer in Sunday's finale handed the Bears a 2-0 lead and moved the junior into a tie for eighth place on MSU's career home run chart. His 37th career long ball matched the MSU total of Chris Curry (1995-98), and Burger needs one more round-tripper to equal Ben Carlson's (2007-09) career total of 38 homers in the No 7 position. Additionally, Burger moved up to 21st on MSU's career hits chart with the 203rd and 204th hits as a Bear over the weekend.
In combining to hit 24 of MSU's 38 home runs as a team this spring, Burger and Eierman are tied for seventh individually among all Division I hitters, respectively. They share the national lead for combined homers with Charlie Madden (14) and Hunter Bening (10) of Mercer.
HOME SWEET HAMMONS
After spending the bulk of the first six weeks of the season away from Hammons Field, the Bears returned to Springfield March 28 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 11 of its first 15 home dates to go along with 10 road/neutral-field victories. Since the start of the 2015 season, the Bears have posted a 52-15 (.766) record at Hammons Field, including 29 wins in their last 37 home games versus non-conference foes.
