Missouri State Bears (22-13) at Saint Louis Billikens (21-11)
at Saint Louis:	Monday, April 17  |  6:00 p.m.
Site:	Billiken Sports Center (500)  |  St. Louis, Mo.
Follow:	Live Stats
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Saint Louis
Series History:	MSU leads 47-12  (15-8 in St. Louis)
at Missouri:	Tuesday, April 18  |  6:30 p.m.
Site:	Taylor Stadium (3,031)  |  Columbia, Mo.
Follow:	Live Stats  |  SEC Network+
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Missouri
Series History:	MSU leads 27-25 (12-14 in Columbia)
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM  |  RadioSpringfield.com
Social Media:	@MSUBearBaseball  |  Facebook  |  Instagram

PRIME 9

• MSU head coach Keith Guttin enters the week two victories away from becoming the 25th NCAA Division I coach to reach the 1,200 career win plateau; he currently ranks seventh on the Division I win list for active coaches
• The Bears bring a commanding 47-12 advantage over the Billikens into Monday's game; MSU has won seven of the last 10 meetings and 15 of 23 overall road games in the series; MSU also leads its series with the Tigers by a 27-25 margin, but MU is 14-12 against the Bears in Columbia
• Missouri State has racked up a 27-15 overall record vs. the other three Division I programs from the state of Missouri over the last decade, including a 9-3 mark against the Billikens and a 9-8 record vs. the Tigers since the start of the 2007 season
• Monday's game marks a homecoming of sorts for eight Bears who hail from the St. Louis metropolitan area, including seniors Justin Paulsen (Ballwin, Mo.), Blake Graham (Edwardsville, Ill.) and Aaron Meyer (Millstadt, Ill.)
• Jake Burger and Jeremy Eierman have combined to post the top home run total for Division I teammates this spring with 27 round-trippers in just 35 games to date; the duo ranks No. 1 and No. 2 in the Valley in home runs, runs scored, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage
• Tied for third nationally with 14 home runs, Burger ranks seventh on MSU's career homer list with 39, just three behind Brian Mahaffey in the No. 6 spot; Burger also rates 20th in career hits (209), four behind Tate Matheny in the 19th position on the chart
• Amongst the trio of Burger, Eierman and Paulsen, MSU hitters combine to rank first and second among all Valley hitters in seven different offensive statistical categories (SLG, OBP, runs, hits, homers, RBIs and total bases)
• The MSU pitching staff can boast three Valley statistical leaders as well, with Doug Still pacing the circuit with a 2.29 ERA, Jordan Knutson leading the league in strikeouts (57) and Jake Fromson on top of the MVC leaderboard for opposing batting (.173), fewest hits (23) and fewest earned runs (12) allowed    
• The Bears have amassed a 66-26 regular-season record against non-conference foes since the beginning of the 2015 season, including a 37-17 road mark vs. non-MVC competition over the same stretch

LEADING OFF
The Missouri State Bears return to the Show-Me State for a pair of midweek non-conference matchups this week, beginning with a 6 p.m. game against the Saint Louis Billikens Monday at the Billiken Sports Complex in St. Louis. MSU will also travel to Columbia for a Tuesday evening showdown with the Missouri Tigers at Taylor Stadium.

MSU (22-13) corrected a three-game slide with an 8-0 blanking of New Mexico to close out their series with the Lobos in Albuquerque. Doug Still gave the Bears all they could ask for, limiting UNM to five hits in the first complete-game shutout by a Bear since the 2014 season.

Saint Louis (21-11) is coming off an A-10 series win at Massachusetts over the weekend. The Billikens are hitting .284 as a club, led by Trent Leimkuhler's .33 average, while SLU's pitching staff has logged an impressive 3.22 team ERA.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bears bring a commanding 47-12 overall advantage over the Billikens into Monday's meeting. MSU has claimed 15 of the previous 23 games played by the two clubs on the Billikens home field, including four of the last five games in St. Louis dating back to 2008.

Over the course of its three-game win streak in the series, Missouri State has averaged 10.3 runs per outing against the Billikens. Last year in Springfield, the Bears set a program single-game record when they drew 18 walks en route to a 15-4 victory. Jeremy Eierman went 2-for-3 with three runs scored, and Blake Graham added a 2-for-4 night.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Several MSU veterans continue to make their moves up the Bears' career leaderboard in a number of statistical categories. Most notably, Jake Burger homered twice last week to claim sole possession of the No. 7 spot on MSU's all-time home run chart with the 38th and 39th round-trippers of his career, just three behind Brian Mahaffey (42) in the sixth position. Burger also climbed into the Bears' top 20 for career hits, entering the week with 209. He trails former teammate Tate Matheny in the No. 19 spot by five hits. 

Additionally, Justin Paulsen drew three walks at New Mexico to move up to sixth on MSU's career chart, and Jordan Knutson made his 40th mound start as a Bear Friday to crack the program's top five in that category. Knutson also moved into the top 10 MSU hurlers for career innings (245.1), passing former teammate Matt Hall for the No. 8 position.

STILL SCORELESS
After surrendering a total of 38 runs over its first three games of the week, the Missouri State pitching staff got a big lift from Doug Still in Saturday's series finale at New Mexico. In registering the first complete-game shutout by a Bear since Jon Harris blanked Northern Illinois on the same field on Feb. 22, 2014, the junior left-hander turned the tables on the Lobos, who entered the contest as the No. 35 RPI club in all of Division I baseball. 

Still scattered five hits, allowing just one extra-base hit while permitting only three UNM baserunners to reach scoring position. He did not face more than four batters in any inning and retired 18 of the final 21 batters he faced to finish off the sixth shutout by the Bears staff this season.

GUTTIN CLOSING IN ON MILESTONE
Bears head coach Keith Guttin enters the week needing two more wins to become the 25th NCAA Division I head coach to reach the 1,200 career win milestone. The Bears' 35th year bench boss cracked the NCAA's top 25 coaching wins list on opening weekend, moving past Andy Lopez with MSU's victories over Stony Brook and Rhode Island. With a career record of 1,198-752 (.614), Guttin is the second-winningest coach in MVC history, while his win total ranks seventh among all active Division I head coaches. 

THRICE AS NICE
Not only have Jake Burger and Jeremy Eierman inflicted a healthy portion of damage on opposing pitching staffs this spring, but senior first baseman Justin Paulsen has made things triple tough on MSU foes. Together, the trio has combined to hit .354 (146-for-412) with 104 runs scored and 104 more driven in this season. Individually, they each rank among the top five Valley players in batting, on-base percentage and hits, while two of the three combine to rank first and second in seven different offensive categories (slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, home runs, RBIs and total bases).