2017 MVC Baseball Championship
Opening Round	No. 1 Missouri State Bears (37-15, 18-1 MVC) vs. No. 8 Illinois State Redbirds (13-38, 2-18 MVC)
Date  |  Time	Wednesday, May 24  |  7:32 p.m.
Site	Hammons Field (8,000)  |  Springfield, Mo.
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM
Watch:	The Valley on ESPN3
Follow:	Live Stats  |  @MSUBearBaseball
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Illinois State  |  MVC Notebook
Series History:	MSU leads 58-40  (MSU 29-16 at home)
Tickets:	MissouriStateBears.com

PRIME 9

• Missouri State enters the 2017 MVC Championship 48-45 all-time at the tourney, with titles in 1996, 1997 and 2015; coupled with its 23-5 mark at the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament, MSU is 71-50 all-time at league meets; the Bears are 9-5 as the top seed in the MVC Championship and 4-6 as the tournament host
• The Bears remained at No. 12 in this week's Collegiate Baseball Top 30, and checked in at No. 21 in both the USA Today Coaches and NCBWA polls and No. 22 in D1Baseball.com's poll Monday
• MSU has won at least one game in each Championship appearance since 1994, totaling 48 wins in its last 21 trips; the Bears are a combined 7-1 against the other three teams in 'Bracket B' and 18-5 at Hammons Field this season
• The Bears rank sixth nationally in team walks with 300 for the season, which is the second-best total in school history and just 17 shy of the program's single-season record of 317, set in 2015
• First-team All-MVC picks Jake Burger and Jeremy Eierman have combined to post the top home run total for Division I teammates this spring with 38 homers in 52 games to date; each was named a semifinalist for the NCBWA's Dick Howser Trophy last week, as MSU was one of only four programs to place multiple players on the list
• Burger was tabbed as the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year Tuesday, becoming the fifth Bear to earn league player of the year honors and the first since Brayden Drake in 2009 Senior closer 
• 2017 MVC Pitcher of the Year Jake Fromson leads the MVC in ERA (2.01), opposing batting average (.151), fewest hits allowed (33) and fewest earned runs allowed (14), while his season WHIP (0.73) leads the nation
• Fromson became the seventh MSU hurler to be named MVC Pitcher of the Year and the fifth in the last 10 seasons; he is the first reliever to win the honor since WSU's Marc Bluma earned the same award in 1998; Fellow pitcher Doug Still earned the MVC's Newcomer of the Year award, becoming the ninth Bear to claim the honor
• Bryan Young has yielded just two earned runs on the season and is tied with WSU's Jaime Bluma for second place on the MVC's career saves list (34); Young's career 1.56 ERA ranks third among active D-I pitchers

LEADING OFF
The Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship returns to Hammons Field for the first time in five years this week. The tournament, which begins with four games Wednesday (May 24) and continues through Saturday's championship game, will determine the Valley's automatic qualifier for the 2017 NCAA Championship.

After claiming their second MVC regular-season championship in three seasons, the Missouri State Bears (37-15, 18-1 MVC) will begin their quest for a fourth MVC tourney title against the eighth-seeded Illinois State Redbirds (13-38, 2-18 MVC) in opening-round action at 7:32 p.m. Wednesday.

Missouri State enters the 2017 MVC Championship with a 48-45 all-time record at the tourney, including titles in 1996, 1997 and 2015. MSU has five runner-up finishes (1995, 2002, 2006,  2008 and 2016) at the MVC Tournament and has gone 4-6 in three previous turns as the tournament's host (2004, 2007 and 2012). The Bears have won at least one game in each Championship appearance since 1994, totaling all 48 of their tourney wins in their last 20 trips to the meet. Coupled with its 23-5 mark at the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament, MSU is 71-50 all-time at league championships as a Division I program and 9-5 in its four previous appearances as the top seed at the Valley Championship.

SERIES HISTORY
Missouri State brings a 58-40 all-time advantage over Illinois State into Wednesday's game. The Bears are 29-16 vs. ISU in Springfield, including a three-game sweep of the Redbirds at Hammons Field to close the 2016 regular-season. Last weekend, the two clubs split a weather-shortened two-game series in Normal, with MSU claiming an 8-5 win in the opener, before ISU stopped the Bears' 22-game Valley win streak with an 8-4 decision in game two. The Bears and Redbirds have also split their previous six meetings at the MVC Championship. They last met in 2013, when top-seeded ISU claimed a 6-1 win in Normal en route to a runner-up finish in the tournament.

Against the remaining 'B Bracket' opposition, the Bears won all six meetings with Southern Illinois and Wichita State this spring. MSU is just 45-66 all-time against WSU, including a 28-23 record against the Shockers in Springfield. The Bears hold a 69-38 lead in their series with SIU, going 27-21 at home against the Salukis.

CROWN 'EM
The Bears locked up their fifth regular-season MVC championship with their 4-1 win over Indiana State on May 13, giving MSU two league titles in the last three seasons. The last time the Bears accomplished that feat was during the 2001-03 seasons, when they went 22-10 in Valley play to win the 2001 crown, then took the 2003 league title with a 19-11 mark en route to the program's only Division I College World Series appearance. 

The Bears' 18-1 finish in league play marked their best in 27 MVC seasons, as well as the top finish for any Valley champ since Wichita State went 26-1 in 1998.

BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
Headlined by four league specialty award winners and six first-team selections, a total of 10 Bears were selected for All-Missouri Valley Conference honors Tuesday by the league's head coaches. Junior third baseman Jake Burger was tabbed the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year, while junior right-hander Jake Fromson was voted the Valley's Pitcher of the Year and junior pitcher Doug Still was named the league's Newcomer of the Year. AdditIonally, Keith Guttin was selected as the Dan Callahan MVC Coach of the Year for the sixth time after guiding MSU to its fifth regular-season Valley title with an 18-1 league mark — the best in program history and the top finish by any league champion in 19 years.

Missouri State's six selections for the Valley's top postseason squad, including Burger, Fromson and Still, as well as senior second baseman Aaron Meyer, senior designated hitter Blake Graham and sophomore shortstop Jeremy Eierman, brings the Bears' total of first-team all-conference honorees to 88 since MSU joined the Division I ranks in 1983.

Additionally, the Bears placed three players on the Valley's second team, with outfielder Hunter Steinmetz and reliever Bryan Young earning repeat all-conference selections, and starting pitcher Jordan Knutson earning his first postseason All-MVC nod. Burger, Knutson and Steinmetz also picked up MVC All-Defensive Team recognition.

Burger becomes the fifth Bear to earn the MVC's most outstanding player honor, joining Bill Mueller (1993), Steve Hacker (1995), Matt Cepicky (1999) and Brayden Drake (2009) on MSU's list of honorees. Fromson is the first reliever to earn the Valley's top honor for a pitcher since WSU's Marc Bluma in 1998, the fifth Bear to be named MVC Pitcher of the Year in the last 10 seasons and the and the seventh overall. Finally, Still is the ninth MSU standout to earn the MVC's Newcomer of the Year honor, as well as the first Bears starting pitcher to nab a spot on the Valley's first team since 2015.

BURGER CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Junior All-American Jake Burger has continued his ascension toward the top of several MSU career charts this spring, most notably the Bears' home runs and hits lists. Burger homered for the 45th time as a Bear May 12 against Indiana State and currently sits in sixth on that list, just five shy of Ryan Howard in the No. 5 spot. 

Burger also logged five hits in the series with ISU to climb to No. 15 on MSU's all-time hits chart, passing Aaron Conway, Luke Voit and Howard along the way. The third baseman also  enters the MVC Championship eighth on MSU's career extra-base hits list, just four shy of reaching the 100-mark, and just one behind Matt Cepicky in the No. 7 position. He also cracked the top 10 for RBIs as a Bear and is currently tied with Greg Mathis at 171 for his career, just four away from Brian Mahaffey's MSU total in the ninth spot on the list.

CARDIAC CUBS
The Bears rallied for their 15th and 16th come-from-behind victories of the season vs. Indiana State (May 12-14), overcoming a 4-0 deficit with 14 unanswered runs in the series opener, then wiping out a 1-0 Sycamore lead in game two. Missouri State's two wins over ISU marked its 56th and 57th comeback victories 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's comeback from a five-run deficit at Evansville on April 29 matched its biggest rally in the last seven years. Last March, the Bears overcame a 5-0 Arkansas State lead, coming all the way back 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. 

22 FOR THE AGES
Missouri State posted its best-ever-start to a Valley season as part of its 22-game MVC win streak. The Bears won their first 18 conference games this spring before falling to Illinois State (May 19) in their regular-season finale. With their 8-5 win over the Redbirds on May 18, the Bears ran their regular-season Valley win streak to a league-record 22-straight games, dating back to their May 15, 2016 win at DBU. They surpassed the previous all-time win streak by an MVC club with their title-clinching win vs. Indiana State on May 13, topping Wichita State's 19-game league win streak (1981-82). 

WALK IT OFF
MSU drew a total of 11 free passes in its abbreviated two-game series at Illinois State last weekend. The Bears season total of 300 walks leads the Valley and ranks sixth nationally entering play this week. 

Five different Bears rank among the top nine MVC totals for bases on balls this season, led by Hunter Steinmetz's 40, which ranks second in the conference and 39th nationally. The Bears are just 17 walks shy of the program's single-season record of 317, set in 2015.

IN RARE COMPANY
Bears head coach Keith Guttin's selection as Dan Callahan MVC Coach of the Year marks the sixth occasion he has been picked for the honor after previously earning the award in 1993, 2001, 2003, 2008 and 2015. The Bears' 35th year bench boss guided MSU to the longest regular-season win streak (22 games) in the history of the conference, as MSU won its first 18 league games of the 2017 MVC season to post the best-ever start to a Valley season for any club.

Guttin picked up his 1,200th career victory with MSU's April 18 win over Mizzou and climbed into the NCAA's top 25 for career victories at the Division I level earlier this spring. The Bears' regular-season MVC title is their fifth since joining the Valley and their ninth regular-season conference title under Guttin, who ranks as the second-winningest coach in MVC history and seventh on the NCAA's Division I wins list for active coaches with a career record of 1,213-754 (.617).