Murray State Racers (11-10) at Missouri State Bears (12-6)
Site	Hammons Field (8,000)  |  Springfield, Mo.
Date/First Pitch:	Wednesday, March 21  |  3:02 p.m.
Watch:	The Valley on ESPN3
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM
Follow:	Live Stats  |  @MSUBearBaseball
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Murray State
Series History:	MSU leads 3-1  (first meeting in Springfield)
Promotions:	Business Man's Special (half-price adult tickets)
Tickets:	MissouriStateBears.com

PRIME 9

• Missouri State is 6-0 following a loss this season, hitting .291 and posting a 3.33 ERA in such contests
• After totaling just four long balls over the first nine games of the season, the Bears have powered up to hit 12 homers in their last nine contests since March 7
• MSU has posted an 81-33 (.711) regular-season non-conference mark over the last three seasons
• The Bears lead the series with Murray State by a 3-1 margin, with Wednesday's meeting marking the first home game in the series for MSU; the two teams have met just once as Division I programs--a 5-3 Bears win on March 28, 1991 in Murray
• Preseason All-American Jeremy Eierman has rebounded from a sluggish start to hit .455 (20-for-44) with three homers, 16 runs scored and six steals over the course of his current career-best 11-game hit streak
• Eierman enters the week with 35 career home runs, just one shy of cracking the Bears' career top 10 list    
• MSU leads the Valley in team earned run average (3.50), earned runs allowed (62), fewest home runs allowed (8) and double plays turned (15); Individually, Drew Millas ranks fourth in both RBIs (22) and on-base percentage (.468)
• Head coach Keith Guttin moved past former San Diego State bench boss Jim Dietz (1,230) for sole possession of the No. 22 spot on the NCAA's all-time Division I coaching victories list with MSU's win over SEMO Tuesday
• Missouri State has 66 combined come-from-behind victories over the last three-plus seasons, including seven through its first 18 contests of the 2018 campaign 

LEADING OFF
After a successful road swing that capped a 3-1 week, the Missouri State Bears return to Hammons Field to open a five-game home stand, beginning with midweek contests against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks and Murray State Racers. The Bears and Redhawks will square off at Tuesday (March 20) at 3 p.m., while the Racers will visit Wednesday (March 21) for another 3 p.m. tilt.

The Bears saw their four-game win streak come to an end Saturday at Oklahoma State, but MSU entered the week having won seven of its last 10 contests. Jeremy Eierman has recorded a hit in each of those outings, while the MSU offense has averaged 7.1 runs per game during the stretch.

SEMO won the final two games of its Ohio Valley Conference series with Morehead State to stop a four-game slide this past weekend. Fellow OVC member Murray State ended a losing streak of its own with a home win over Brescia on Monday. The Racers dropped all three of their league games at Austin Peay over the weekend.

SERIES HISTORIES
Missouri State holds a commanding 64-40 edge over SEMO in a series that dates all the way back to the Bears' inaugural season of 1964. The Redhawks have been one of MSU's most-frequent opponents, with the 104 total games ranking behind only Indiana State (113 games), Wichita State (112) and Southern Illinois (108) in terms of series length for Bears' opponents. The Bears have been even more dominant at home, winning 37 of 53 games against the Redhawks on their home field.

Wednesday's game with Murray State will mark the first in the series since 1991, as well as just the second meeting of the two schools as Division I foes. The Bears and Racers have never met in Springfield before, with MSU taking three of the previous four games in the series, all of which have been played in Murray.

HOLDING SERVE AT HAMMONS
Missouri State opened its 2018 home slate last week looking to extend a recent home-field advantage of unprecedented proportions in the history of the MSU program. The Bears have logged their top two single-season home win totals over the last two years, going 21-7 at home last spring, following a Hammons Field record 22 victories in 2016. In 2015, MSU posted its best-ever showing at Hammons with a 19-3 (.864) mark, giving the Bears a combined 66-21 home record since the start of the 2015 season.

POWER SURGE
After hitting just four combined home runs over their first nine games of the season, the Bears have muscled up to club 12 long balls in their last nine outings. Ben Whetstone launched three critical home runs in MSU's series win over No. 30 Arkansas State, including the first two-homer game of his career in a 12-4 win. Additionally, Jeremy Eierman has powered up to hit all three of his home runs over the course of an 11-game hit streak dating back to March 3.

The Bears are 9-2 overall this season in games in which they have hit at least one home run. MSU is a perfect 3-0 when hitting two or more long balls in a game.

BOUNCEBACK BEARS
Missouri State has made a habit of eliminating opposition leads over the last three seasons, totaling 66 come-from-behind victories out of 142 total wins since the start of the 2015 season. 

With its 10-5 comeback victory over SEMO Tuesday, MSU also improved to 6-0 follow a loss. The Bears have hit .291 with seven of their 16 home runs on the season in those six victories. Ben Whetstone has been particularly lethal in games following losses, batting .409 and slugging 1.000 with all four of his homers and seven RBIs. On the mound, Dylan Coleman has posted a pair of wins and a 2.57 ERA in such outings.

EIERMAN ON FIRE
After a slow start to the 2018 season, preseason All-American Jeremy Eierman has caught fire to record hits in each of his last 11 games, hitting .455 (20-for-44) with all three of his home runs and 16 total runs scored to help the Bears go 8-3 over the same stretch. In addition to his career-best hit streak, Eierman has handled 41 of 42 defensive chances and swiped six bases in six tries. 

Eierman, who was named MVC Player of the Week for the fifth time in his MSU career on Monday, has been at the forefront of the conversation throughout the fall and leading into the preseason about the Bear with the most promising potential to follow in the footsteps of several recent high-end Major League Baseball Draft picks from Missouri State. Last year, fellow MSU infielder Jake Burger was picked 11th overall by the Chicago White Sox to become the highest-ranking Bears position player ever picked in the draft. In fact, the Bears have seen six players selected in the top 10 rounds of the MLB Draft over the last three seasons, including two first-rounders. 

COLEMAN CLIMBING
Junior right-hander Dylan Coleman logged another strong outing Saturday at Oklahoma State, holding the Cowboys scoreless on two hits over the first six innings, before a four-run seventh spelled doom for the Bears. Nevertheless, the Potosi, Mo., product fanned five OSU hitters to climb all the way to the ninth position, which he currently shares with Pierce Johnson (227). 

Coleman, who fanned an MVC-high 106 batters in 2016, needs 16 more K's to match the career total of Jon Harris (2013-15) in the No. 8 position.

OFF AND RUNNING
As part of their 12-6 start to the season, the Bears locked up their eighth-consecutive .500 or better month of February. Since the start of the 2011 season, Missouri State has gone a combined 43-15 (.741) in February, including a cumulative 28-8 (.778) mark over the last five seasons. 

MSU has been even better in the month of March, which has traditionally been the Bears' most successful month. MSU has gone 43-20 in March over the last four seasons and has logged 15 winning months of March since 2001. Overall, MSU has posted a .633 March winning percentage and finished .500 or better in the month 45 times in 54 years as a varsity program.

BEARS ON RADIO
Once again in 2018, Meyer Communications is slated to provide live radio coverage of all 53 Missouri State regular-season games, plus all Bears' games in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and any 2018 postseason play. 

The broadcasts can be heard primarily on KBFL 1060 AM and 96.9 FM in Springfield with Art Hains, Ben Goss and Corey Riggs describing the action. An online audio stream is available through KBFL's website via RadioSpringfield.com. 

BEARS ON ESPN
At least 13 MSU home games will be streamed online through ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app as part of a 10-year extension to the Missouri Valley Conference's media rights agreement with ESPN announced in 2015. As a result, ESPN3 will showcase a minimum of 820 events a year (a minimum of 70 men's basketball) in the final six years of the agreement. This spring, Corey Riggs, Don West, Mike McClure and Tom Ladd will share broadcast duties on the Bears' ESPN3 broadcasts, including Tuesday's contest against Oral Roberts. Additionally, the Bears' April 11 showdown with nationally-ranked Oregon State will air live on ESPNU at 11 a.m.