PRIME 9
- Missouri State enters the week with the No. 16 RPI in all of Division I baseball; the Bears also rejoined Collegiate Baseball's Division I poll with a No. 28 ranking on Monday
- The Bears lead the series with Mizzou by a 28-25 margin, including a 14-9 all-time home mark against the Tigers; MSU has outscored MU by a 38-9 combined margin over their current three-game home win streak in the series
- Missouri State has racked up a 29-15 overall record vs. the other three Division I programs from the state of Missouri over the last decade, including a 10-8 mark against the Tigers since the start of the 2007 season
- The Bears have recorded at least one home run in 12 straight games and hit 24 long balls as a team; Led by Jake Burger's six round-trippers, five different Bears have gone deep at least three times over the same stretch
- Burger and Jeremy Eierman have combined to post the top home run total for Division I teammates this spring with 32 round-trippers in just 40 games to date; the duo ranks No. 1 and No. 2 in the Valley in home runs, runs scored, hits, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage
- Tied for third nationally with 17 home runs, Burger is the NCAA Division I active leader for career homers and ranks sixth on the Bears' all-time list with 42 after matching Brian Mahaffey's MSU total Sunday vs. WSU
- Amongst the trio of Burger, Eierman and Justin Paulsen, MSU hitters combine to rank first and second among all Valley hitters in seven different offensive statistical categories (SLG, OBP, hits, homers, RBIs and total bases)
- The MSU pitching staff can boast three MVC statistical leaders as well, with Doug Still (2.18) and Jake Fromson (2.62) ranking first and second in ERA, respectively; Jordan Knutson leads the league in strikeouts (64) while Still shares the MVC lead with six victories and Fromson has posted league-best figures for opponent batting (.181), fewest hits allowed (29) and fewest earned runs allowed (13)
- The Bears are averaging 5.4 walks per game, which ranks second in program history; MSU averaged 6.6 bases on balls per outing in 1973 and set a school single-season record with 317 total free passes in 2015
LEADING OFF
Riding a six-game win streak into their final midweek home game of the season, the Missouri State Bears will be aiming for a season series sweep of the Missouri Tigers Tuesday night at Hammons Field. The Bears and Tigers will meet for the 54th time at 6:30 p.m. to conclude MSU's four-game home stand.
MSU (27-13) is coming off its fourth consecutive Missouri Valley Conference series sweep this past weekend, as the Bears routed Wichita State by a combined margin of 33-10 at Hammons Field. The Bears, who claimed a 5-3 win over the Tigers last Tuesday in Columbia, have won six in a row at Hammons, but have dropped their last three non-conference midweek contests at home.
Mizzou (27-14) dropped three of its four games last week, including two of three SEC games at Ole Miss over the weekend. The Tigers will be looking to avoid suffering their seventh season sweep at the hands of the Bears since 1989.
SERIES HISTORY
The Bears hold a 28-25 edge over the Tigers in a series that dates back to 1975. Missouri State has won five of the last six meetings, including three straight at Hammons Field by a combined scoring margin of 38-9.
In the two clubs' first matchup of the season last week in Columbia, MSU scratched out a pair of eighth-inning runs to snap a 3-3 tie, while the Bears bullpen logged 4.0 shutout innings to seal the 5-3 win for head coach
Keith Guttin's 1,200th career victory. Four Missouri State pitchers combined to hold MU scoreless over the final six innings, with
Jake Fromson,
Jordan Knutson and
Bryan Young teaming up to strike out six Tigers over four innings of two-hit relief.
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 belted his 17th home run of the season and his 42nd as a Bear Sunday to move into a tie with Brian Mahaffey for the No. 6 spot of MSU's career homer list. Burger also climbed past a pair of former teammates on the Bears' all-time hits list over the weekend when he gashed Wichita State for seven hits in a three-game sweep. He passed up Tate Matheny (214) and
Spencer Johnson (216) to take over the No. 18 spot and needs just six hits to match the career total of Aaron Conway in the 17th position on the chart.
Additionally,
Bryan Young added to his MSU record with his 31st save as a Bear last Tuesday at Mizzou, and
Jordan Knutson made his 41st mound start as a Bear Saturday to move into a tie with Aaron Meade and Nick Petree for the third-most career starts in program history.
SHOW-ME STATE SHOWDOWN
MSU has enjoyed a string of recent success against fellow Show-Me State Division I clubs, going a combined 29-15 against SLU, SEMO and MU over the last decade. The Bears have posted at least a .500 cumulative season record against the three clubs in all but one season (2012) since 2002.
STREAKING IN THE VALLEY
Missouri State is off to a 9-0 start in MVC play for the first time in 27 seasons as a member of the conference. The Bears also ran their regular-season Valley win streak to a program-record 13-straight games with their sweep of Wichita State over the weekend.
The Bears' unbeaten start in conference play is their longest such start since 1990, when they went 11-0 overall in their final league season in the Mid-Continent Conference. MSU surpassed its previous Valley-best streak of 12-straight wins (May 9, 1993 through April 17, 1994) with Sunday's doubleheader sweep of WSU.
BURGER ADDS ANOTHER HONOR
For the seventh time in 10 weeks, a Missouri State standout was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, as
Jake Burger picked up his third MVC honor of the season Monday.
Burger played a starring role in MSU's best offensive week of the season, hitting .455 (10-for-22) with 13 runs scored and 11 RBIs while clubbing key home runs in three different wins. The Chesterfield, Mo., product belted the Bears' first grand slam of the season while going 2-for-4 with four runs scored and four RBIs in a 15-9 win at Saint Louis last Monday, then blasted a pivotal two-run homer the following night at Mizzou to power a 5-3 Bears win.
The junior third baseman was nearly unstoppable in a three-game sweep of Wichita State over the weekend, scoring three times in Saturday's 12-5 win, before going 6-for-11 with four more runs scored, his 17th home run of the season and five RBIs in a doubleheader sweep of the Shockers on Sunday to help extend MSU's program-record Valley win streak to 13-straight games.
Burger joins last week's MVC honoree,
Jack Duffy, three-time Valley Player of the Week selection
Jeremy Eierman, and MVC Pitcher of the Week honorees
Austin Knight and
Jordan Knutson, on the Bears' list of Valley award winners this spring.
LIGHT-TOWER POWER
After the MSU duo of
Spencer Johnson and
Jake Burger teamed up to post the top combined home run total in the country last spring, the Bears can boast the top 1-2 power punch in Division I baseball again this season. Burger is once again a key component in the middle of the MSU order with a Valley-best 17 long balls to date, while sophomore shortstop
Jeremy Eierman is right on his heels with 15 after clubbing a key two-run shot in the Bears' 12-5 win over WSU on Saturday. The duo leads Mercer's Charlie Madden (14) and Hunter Bening/J.T. Thomas (12) by six home runs for the national lead in combined homers by teammates.
Individually, Burger ranks third nationally behind only Morehead State's Niko Hulsizer (19) and Eastern Kentucky's Ben Fisher (18) in the Division I home run race. Eierman, meanwhile is tied for fifth in the country with Wake Forest's Gavin Sheets, just one long ball behind Mississippi State's Brent Rooker in fourth. As a team, the Bears rank 14th in the nation with their 52 home runs this season. MSU has recorded at least one home run in 12 straight games and hit a total of 24 long balls as a team over the same stretch. Led by Burger's six round-trippers, five different Bears have gone deep at least three times since MSU's April 7 win over Dallas Baptist.
INSTA-GRAHAM
Since his return to the Missouri State lineup on March 31 following a five-week layoff due to injury,
Blake Graham has provided instant offense for an already-potent Bears' batting order. The senior has batted a team-high .426 (23-for-54) with four home runs and 17 RBIs to help MSU go 12-4 overall and post its best-ever MVC start. This past week, the Edwardsville, Ill., product hit .526 overall, including an unconscious stretch versus Wichita State over which he went 8-for-11 (.727) with 10 RBIs in a three-game MSU sweep.
Graham has been the Bears' hottest hitter in the month of April, hitting .460 in 15 games. He has also enjoyed the friendly confines of Hammons Field in 2017, batting a team-high .472 (17-for-36) in his 11 home appearances this spring.
CARDIAC CUBS
The Bears rallied for its ninth and 10th come-from-behind victories of the season last week, overcoming an early 1-0 disadvantage for a 5-3 win at Mizzou, before erasing two different deficits vs. Wichita State on Saturday in a 12-5 win. Missouri State's win in Columbia marked its 50th comeback victory since the start of the 2015 season. Last year, the Bears posted 17 comeback wins, on the heels of a 2015 season that saw them claim victory in 24 such contests.
MSU rallied from its biggest deficit in nearly six years last March vs. Arkansas State, coming all the way back from a 5-0 hole to defeat the Red Wolves by a 15-11 final tally. The Bears' last come-from-behind win after trailing by five runs occurred on May 26, 2010, when MSU overcame a 7-2 deficit against Southern Illinois at the MVC Championship in Wichita. MSU was particularly resilient in MVC play in 2015, capturing eight of their 18 conference victories in comeback fashion.
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 14 of its first 19 home dates to go along with 13 road/neutral-field victories. Since the start of the 2015 season, the Bears have posted a 55-16 (.775) record at Hammons Field, including 29 wins in their last 38 home games versus non-conference foes.
