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PRIME 9
- Missouri State is off to a 3-0 start in Missouri Valley Conference play for the 10th time in its 27 years as a member of the conference; the Bears finished first or second in the Valley race in seven of the previous nine seasons they started 3-0 in league play
- DBU leads the series by a 15-9 margin, including a 4-2 edge at Hammons Field; the two clubs have engaged in 14 one-run games since their first meeting in 2007 and have played three more that were decided by two runs
- 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 (69-for-217) in their 18 victories
- As a team, the Bears rank seventh nationally in WHIP (1.13), ninth in shutouts (5), 10th in ERA (2.68), 14th in hits allowed per 9.0 IP (7.13) and 16th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.12)Â
- Jake Burger was named a first-team midseason All-American by Perfect Game for the second year in a row Thursday; Burger has combined with Jeremy Eierman on the top home run total for Division I teammates this spring with 21 round-trippers in just 28 games to dateÂ
- Burger paces the MVC and ranks among the Division I leaders in home runs (6th), slugging (9th) and total bases (10th); the junior leads all MVC hitters in batting (.385), on-base percentage (.478), hits (42) and RBIs (31)
- MSU pitching has allowed 46 fewer runs than the next closest MVC staff (Wichita State) and compiled 32 more strikeouts than Evansville in the No. 2 spot on that chart
- Four MSU hurlers rank among the league's top 10 in both individual ERA and strikeouts; Jake Fromson's 1.89 ERA ranks second in the circuit, while his 37 K's is sixth; Jordan Knutson has the No. 3 strikeout total (42) and his 2.78 ERA ranks sixth; Doug Still ranks fourth in strikeouts (39) and seventh in ERA (3.00); Dylan Coleman is second in strikeouts (43) and sits in the No. 9 spot for ERA (3.19)   Â
- The Bears rallied from early deficits in each of their three wins over Bradley last weekend, giving them 49 come-from-behind victories since the start of the 2015 season
LEADING OFF
In what could shape up to be one of the key Missouri Valley Conference series of the 2017 series, the
Missouri State Bears will square off with the defending Valley champion and preseason favorite
Dallas Baptist Patriots in a three-game set this weekend at Hammons Field. The Bears and Patriots will open the series with a 6:30 p.m. game Friday (April 7), before meeting again Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) to conclude the series.
Missouri State (18-10, 3-0 MVC) secured its fifth consecutive home regular-season series sweep of Bradley to open Valley play last weekend. Additionally, the Bears' series win marked their ninth in the last 12 Valley-opening series. After dropping a 4-2 Tuesday contest to Kansas, the Bears are 3-2 on theirÂ
current nine-game home stand.
Dallas Baptist (18-10, 3-0 MVC) also locked up an opening-weekend sweep to start its MVC season, taking three straight from Illinois State in Dallas. Camden Duzenack's three-run homer helped lift 10th-year head coach Dan Heefner's club to a come-from-behind win over the Redbirds in the opener, before DBU put up 21 combined runs over the final two games to complete the sweep.
SERIES HISTORY
Dallas Baptist brings a 15-9 edge in the all-time series with MSU into this weekend's action. Since the beginning of the 2014 season, the Bears and Patriots have engaged in 12 contests decided by two runs or less. Last year, two of the four games played in the series were either one-run or two-run affairs, as have been 17 of the 24 games overall in the series.
DBU claimed two of the clubs' three regular-season meetings in Dallas last spring, before walking off with a 4-3 victory over the Bears in a 12-inning title game at the MVC Championship in Terre Haute. The Bears limited the Patriots to a .240 batting mark in the season series, including a pair of strong outings from
Jake Fromson, who fanned nine and allowed just one run over 8 1/3 combined innings. But DBU used some timely hitting to earn its three wins, as the Patriots hit .306 with runners in scoring position and cashed in on 13 of 16 scoring chances with runners on third and less than two out.Â
QUALITY AND QUANTITY
The Bears' starting rotation has put together an impressive stretch over the last two weeks with seven quality starts in MSU's last 11 games. Midweek starter
Austin Knight and each member of the Bears' weekend rotation consisting of
Jordan Knutson,
Dylan Coleman and
Doug Still completed at least six innings without allowing more than three earned runs the week of March 27-April 2. After posting just 16 quality starts as a staff in 2016, the Bears have already logged 14 through the first half of the regular season this spring.
FAST STARTS FREQUENT IN VALLEY PLAY
With their three-game sweep of Bradley to open MVC play, the Bears have now won 11 of their last 12 Valley openers and claimed nine of their last 12 MVC-opening series. Additionally, MSU is a combined 24-9 in its opening conference series since 2006. This year marks the 10th time the Bears have started a Valley season with three straight wins. They have gone on to finish first or second in the league race in seven of the previous nine seasons in which they have started 3-0 in MVC play.Â
Missouri State also continued its recent string of success against Bradley with its three-game sweep. The Bears have recorded sweeps of the Braves in each of their last five regular-season series at Hammons Field dating back to 2009. MSU has won 17 of the last 20 meetings overall in the series since 2012.
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 28 games of the season, combining to allow just 16 earned runs (1.59 ERA) while striking out 108 batters and holding the opposition to a .175 batting mark in 90.2 innings. In all, nine different relievers have teamed up to lock down the late innings, as MSU has outscored the opposition by a whopping 82-27 margin from the sixth inning on this season.Â
MSU's rotation has been strong as well, combining to fashion a 3.30 ERA and a .237 opponent batting average.
Jordan Knutson leads the staff with four wins and has logged five quality starts and five different outings of at least 7.0 innings in his seven 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.Â
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.Â
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.
POWERING UP AGAIN
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 11 long balls to date, while sophomore shortstop
Jeremy Eierman is right on his heels with 10 round-trippers after belting three homers in MSU's sweep of Bradley last weekend.
Burger's game-winning, two-run blast last Friday moved the junior into the Bears' career top 10 for homers and his sixth-inning homer in Saturday's win — the 36th of his career — vaulted him into a tie with Matt Gardner for the No. 9 position on the chart. Addtionally, he reached double figures for home runs in his 25th game of the season, which ranked as the sixth-quickest for any Bear. Eierman accomplished the feat in 26 games, good for the No. 7 spot on the list.
In combining to hit 21 of MSU's 28 home runs as a team this spring, Burger and Eierman rank sixth and 13th individually among all Division I hitters, respectively. They share the national lead for combined homers with Charlie  Madden (13) and Hunter Bening/JT Thomas (8) of Mercer.Â
BEARS ON THE VALLEY ON ESPN3
Each of the first two games of this weekend's series will be broadcast as part of Â
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, eight more MSU home baseball games will be broadcast on ESPN3:
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.)
