Missouri State Softball - Games 34-36
 

Missouri State (20-13, 8-4 MVC) vs. Evansville (16-22, 7-5 MVC)
Dates	Friday, April 14, 12 p.m. (DH) | Saturday, April 15, 11 a.m.
Location	Springfield, Mo.
Site	Killian Stadium (capacity 1,200)
Time (Central)	Friday 12 p.m. (DH) | Saturday 11 a.m.
Follow Along	Live Stats | ESPN3 (Friday) | KBFL AM1060 (Saturday)
Missouri State	Game Notes | Softball Home Page | Twitter | Facebook | Media Guide
Up Next	MSU at Wichita State, April 18 (DH)

The Starting Lineup

• There will be a free children's Easter egg hunt on the field after Saturday's game.
• For the third straight week, Missouri State remains in the Top 100 of the NCAA RPI. The Bears are No. 99 this week, joining fellow Valley members Illinois State (59), Wichita State (65), UNI (84) and Bradley (94) in the top 100.
• The Bears remain the only MVC team to rank in the top three in the league in team hitting, pitching and fielding. Entering the week, Missouri State's .301 team batting average ranks third in The Valley (and 58th nationally), while its 2.49 ERA is second (and 54th nationally). MSU's .967 fielding average is also the second-best in the conference this season (and 64th nationally).
• Senior Mary Stephens (Sachse, Texas) is just three RBI away from 100 for her career. She would be the fifth MSU player to ever reach that milestone and first since Jessie Smith in 2009.
• Missouri State has scored first in 23 of its 33 games this season. The Bears are 17-6 when scoring first.
• Kaitlin Beason (Webb City, Mo.) is this week's MVC Pitcher of the Week after she was 1-0 with a 0.58 ERA, including a near no-hitter in the series opener at Indiana State (April 8). In that game, Beason took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up a leadoff single, but was able to secure the shutout win -- her seventh of the season -- and pick up her 10th victory in the circle. She allowed just one earned run in two appearances at ISU, surrendering just 7 hits and 1 walk in 12.0 innings of work (0.67 WHIP) while opponents batted just .171 against her. She improved her season ERA to 1.87, which now ranks second in the MVC.
• Beason ranks 9th nationally in shutouts (7) and leads the MVC in that category.
• In Valley games, Missouri State's 1.56 ERA is by far the best in the league (WSU is second at 2.53). The Bears' staff also leads the MVC pack in opposing batting average (.202), hits allowed (23), runs allowed (23), earned runs allowed (18), walks allowed (15), doubles allowed (7) and hit batsmen (4), through 12 league games.
• The Bears' top career hitters against the Aces are: Hailee Vigneaux .600 (9/15, 2 RBI); Erika Velasquez Zimmer .429 (6/14, 2 RBI); Elena Gambill .400 (4/10, HR); and Olivia Roark .313 (5/16, 2 RBI).
• As a team, the Bears rank 24th nationally in times hit by pitch (11). MSU also ranks 45th in double plays per game (0.42) and 55th in triples per game (0.24).
• The Bears have won the season series against Evansville the last three years, sweeping the Aces in three games at Killian in 2015.
• MSU's top hitters in last weekend's series win at Indiana State were Hailee Vigneaux (Jr., Ozark, Mo.) .455 (5/11) and Erika Velasquez Zimmer (Jr., Coppell, Texas) .417 (5/12, 3B).

 
Head Coach Holly Hesse
   Holly Hesse (Creighton, 1982) is 746-734-2 (.504) in her 29th season as head coach at Missouri State and overall. She is 42-24 all-time against Evansville.
   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 started the 2017 campaign ranked 36th among all active NCAA Division I coaches with 726 career victories.
   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
    Missouri State has won six in a row and leads the all-time series against Evansville, 42-24. The Bears are 20-8 all-time in games played in Springfield, including an 8-2 record at Killian Stadium. The series dates back to 1994.
   Last year, in Evansville, the Bears won both games (April 29) with Kaitlin Beason throwing a complete-game 5-hitter in the first game, a 1-0 win. Olivia Roark and Hailee Vigneaux were also 2-for-3 in that game. In the second game, the Bears prevailed, 4-2, behind an RBI single by Elena Gambill and two-run double from Erika Velasquz Zimmer.
 
Scouting the Opponent
    Third-year head coach Mat Mundell has his Evansville Purple Aces off to a 16-22 start (7-5 MVC) with a 6-9 record in true road games. Evansville enters the weekend on a two-game skid after losing twice at UT Martin on Tuesday, but has won three straight Valley games after last weekend's series sweep against Drake.
   Leading the way for UE is right-handed sophomore Morgan Florey who leads the MVC -- and ranks 30th nationally -- with 141 strikeouts. She has a 1.87 ERA in 108.2 innings. Evansville is 11-6 in games she starts and 5-16 (6.68 ERA) when she doesn't. UE's top hitter as well, Florey is batting .346 with 8 homers and 28 RBI, all team highs.