PRIME 9
- The Missouri State Bears will open the home portion of their 2018 schedule, as well as a five-game home stand, with a 3 p.m. non-conference matchup against the Oklahoma State Cowboys Wednesday at Hammons Field
- The Bears are 9-5 in home openers since moving into Hammons Field in 2004, including wins in six of their last seven home debuts (and three in a row) since 2011
- OSU holds a 13-7 edge in the series, but the Bears are 4-3 against the Cowboys in Springfield; MSU also claimed the most recent meeting in the series on Jeremy Eierman's walkoff two-run homer in the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Division I Championship at the Fayetteville Regional
- The Bears have posted a 75-30 (.714) regular-season non-conference mark over the last three seasons and have won 30 of their last 39 non-conference home games; OSU accounted for one of the Bears' nine home setbacks during that span, grabbing a 6-5 win in 10 innings in its last visit to Hammons Field in 2016
- Eierman, a preseason first-team All-America pick, was also named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes watch list; the shortstop's 32 homers over his freshman and sophomore seasons is the third-best total in program history
- The Bears lead the MVC in team ERA (3.29) and double plays turned (9); junior right-hander Dylan Coleman paced the circuit with 28 strikeouts, while freshman reliever Matt Russell shares the Valley lead in both saves (2) and mound appearances (6)
- Sophomore designated hitter Drew Millas earned MVC Player of the Week recognition Monday after going 7-for-9 with five RBIs over the weekend to help the Bears to the Keith LeClair Classic title, as well as their first regular-season victory over a ranked foe since 2015; Millas logged a career-best four hits against No. 24 ECU and reached safely in each of his first six plate appearances of the weekend
- MSU's roster features four different returners from last year's 43-20 MVC regular-season and NCAA Regional championship squad who have earned All-America recognition during their respective careers, led by 2017 honorees Eierman and Jake Fromson, as well as 2016 Freshman All-America picks Hunter Steinmetz and Coleman
- Missouri State has 63 combined come-from-behind victories over the last three-plus seasons, including four through its first nine contests of the 2018 campaign
LEADING OFF
After a 6-3 start to the 2018 campaign, the
Missouri State Bears finally return to the friendly confines of Hammons Field Wednesday (March 7) to open the home portion of the schedule--as well as a five-game home stand--with a 3 p.m. game against the
Oklahoma State Cowboys.
The Bears wrapped up a successful weekend in North Carolina with two wins in three contests at the Keith LeClair Classic, including a road victory over No. 24 ECU on Saturday. MSU rode a big offensive week from
Drew Millas (7-for-9) to a 2-1 showing in Greenville, closing their stay with an 8-7 win over Pepperdine for the tourney title on Sunday.
OSU (6-4) stopped a three-game skid Sunday with a 3-2 win over Arizona State to close out a weekend series with the Sun Devils. The Cowboys started the year 5-1 before dropping the second of two midweek contests with Little Rock last week and two of three to the Sun Devils in Phoenix.
SERIES HISTORY
Wednesday's contest will continue an annual pairing with Oklahoma State that has seen the two program's square off at least once in every season dating back to 2008. Overall, the Cowboys hold a 13-7 edge in the series, thanks to a recent seven-game win streak vs. MSU, prior to the Bears' 6-5 victory in the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Division I Championship at the Fayetteville Regional last June.
In Springfield, the Bears have taken four of the seven contests in the series, but OSU has claimed each of the last two such meetings. Two years ago, the Cowboys notched a 6-5 win in 10 innings at Hammons Field, after picking up a 6-0 home blanking of the Bears in 2014. Close games have been the norm in the series, with 11 of the last 16 decisions coming by three runs of less. In fact, four of the eight games played since 2013 have been one-run affairs.
HOLDING SERVE AT HAMMONS
Missouri State will open its 2018 home slate this 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 62-18 (.775) home record over the last three years. Last season, the Bears hit .295 as a team and out-homered the opposition by a 42-20 margin, while posting a 2.96 ERA in their 28 games at Hammons.
NON-CON DOMINATION
MSU has been nearly unstoppable against non-conference competition over the last three seasons, compiling a 75-30 (.714) record in regular-season games versus non-league foes since the start of the 2015 season.
The Bears, who have won 30 of their last 39 regular-season non-conference home games, have hit .297 as a team, while out-scoring their non-conference opponents by a 705-410 margin at Hammons Field. MSU has hit 107 homers against non-league opponents over the same stretch.
OFF AND RUNNING
As part of their 6-3 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.
Overall, the Bears ran their February record to 83-63, with a total of 19 winning months out of the 26 years MSU has seen action in February. MSU has been even better in the month of March, which has traditionally been the Bears' most successful month. MSU has gone 37-17 in March over the last three years and has logged 15 winning months of March since 2001. Overall, MSU has posted a .632 March winning percentage and finished .500 or better in the month 45 times in 54 years as a varsity program.
COLEMAN CLIMBING
Junior right-hander
Dylan Coleman picked up his second mound victory of the season Saturday, with 7.0 solid innings at No. 24 ECU. Coleman, who allowed three runs on six hits and raised his Missouri Valley Conference-leading strikeout total to 28 on the year. He also hiked his MSU career total to 216 punchouts, passing Buddy Baumann to move into 15th on the program's all-time strikeout list.
Coleman, who fanned an MVC-high 106 batters in 2016, needs five more K's to match Clay Murphy's (2010-14) career total in the No. 14 position. Additionally, he is just 10 strikeouts shy of cracking the top 10.
MILLAS TABBED FOR VALLEY HONOR
Missouri State sophomore
Drew Millas was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week following his breakout performance at the Keith LeClair Classic this past weekend, the league office Monday. The honor marked the first of Millas's Missouri State career, as well as the 11th time a Bear has earned MVC Player of Pitcher of the Week recogntion over the last two seasons.
Millas powered the Bears' offense to a 2-1 showing for the weekend, hitting .778 (7-for-9) with a team-leading five RBIs. The catcher/designated hitter recorded back-to-back multi-RBI performances and hits in each of his first five at-bats of the weekend, including a career-best 4-for-4 effort in MSU's 7-4 win over No. 24 ECU—the Bears' first regular-season victory over a ranked foe in three years. The Swansea, Ill., native also went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Sunday's 8-7 win over Pepperdine to help the Bears to the tourney title.
CARDIAC CUBS
Missouri State has made a habit of eliminating opposition leads over the last three seasons, totaling 63 come-from-behind victories out of 136 total wins since the start of the 2015 season. This past Sunday, MSU rallied from a two-run deficit against Pepperdine in an eventual 8-7 victory—already their fourth comeback win of the new season.
The Bears rallied for their 18th come-from-behind victory of the 2017 season with their walkoff win over Oklahoma State in the opening round of the NCAA Fayetteville Regional. In 2016, the Bears posted 17 comeback wins, on the heels of a 2015 season that saw them claim victory in 24 such contests.
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, beginning with Wednesday's contest against Oklahoma State. Additionally, the Bears' April 11 showdown with nationally-ranked Oregon State will air live on
ESPNU at 11 a.m.
