No. 7 Oregon State Beavers (24-6) at No. 19 Missouri State Bears (22-8)
Site	Hammons Field (8,000)  |  Springfield, Mo.
Games 1 and 2	Friday, April 13  |  11:02 a.m. (DH)
Game 3	Saturday, April 14  |  6:32 p.m.
Watch:	ESPNU (Game 1)  |  ESPN+ (Game 3)
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM
Follow:	Live Stats  |  @MSUBearBaseball
Game Notes:	Missouri State  |  Oregon State
Series History:	OSU leads 3-2 (first meeting in Springfield)
Tickets:	MissouriStateBears.com

PRIME 9

• Missouri State made its 2018 debuts in both the NCBWA (No. 24) and USA Today Coaches (No. 25) polls, while climbing to a peak position of No. 19 in D1Baseball's Top 25 on Monday 
• At No. 7 in three different national polls this week, Oregon State represents the highest-ranked foe to visit Hammons Field since April 2009; MSU is winless in its six previous contests against top 10 opponents at Hammons
• The Bears can boast 16 wins over ranked opponents at home since moving into Hammons Field in 2004; MSU topped its highest-ranking Hammons Field foe on April 11, 2006, with a 4-2 win over No. 11 Arkansas
• Jeremy Eierman was named to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List on Tuesday; additionally, Drew Millas earned MVC Player of the Week honors for the second time in 2018 Monday after going 6-for-12 with six RBIs in the Bears' series sweep of UE last weekend 
• MSU leads the Valley in team earned run average (3.24), opponent batting (.224), fewest earned runs allowed (97) and hits allowed (221); Dylan Coleman paces the circuit in strikeouts (63), while Ty Buckner leads the league with his 2.50 ERA; additionally, Eierman rates among the MVC's top 10 in eight offensive categories 
• Ben Whetstone has reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in each of the Bears' 30 contests this season; the sophomore first baseman has also been solid in games following a Missouri State defeat, hitting .400 with all four of his home runs and seven RBIs in such outings to help the Bears go 7-0 after a loss 
• MSU has won 15 of its last 18 games since March 11, thanks in large part to a bullpen that has posted a 1.53 ERA and allowed an opponent batting average of just .203; additionally, John Privitera and Matt Brown have drawn a combined 33 walks over the same stretch, while posting on-base percentages of .446 and .474, respectively  
• Head coach Keith Guttin (1,241) needs one more victory to match the career total of former Southern Illinois coach Itchy Jones for the No. 21 position on the NCAA's Division I coaching wins list     
• Missouri State has 71 combined come-from-behind victories over the last four seasons, including 12 through its first 30 contests of the 2018 campaign 

LEADING OFF
After seeing their 10-game home win streak come to an end Tuesday, the Missouri State Bears will look to bounce back against the nationally-ranked Oregon State Beavers in a three-game series this weekend at Hammons Field. The Bears and Beavers will open their non-conference set with an 11 a.m. doubleheader Friday (April 13) morning, before concluding the series with a 6:30 p.m. contest Saturday.

The Bears (22-8) dropped an 8-6 decision to Missouri on Tuesday, sustaining their first home loss since March 10. Nevertheless, MSU has claimed 15 of its last 18 contests overall and has yet to drop a weekend series this season.

Oregon State (24-6) is coming off its second straight Pac-12 series loss last weekend at Arizona, but maintains a No. 7 national ranking in this week's NCBWA poll. The Beavers return the core of their 2017 squad, which finished 56-6 and spent the majority of the season as the nation's top ranked club.

SERIES HISTORY
OSU has claimed three of the previous five meetings in the series, all taking place on neutral fields. The Beavers won the first three contests, including a 17-3 win in Norman, Okla., in 1993, a 5-4 victory in 2004 in Arlington, Texas, as well as the first game of a three-game set in Portland nine years ago. MSU rebounded to post back-to-back two-run decisions over the Beavers to earn the series win at PGE Park.

MSU is 4-10 all-time against the current membership of the Pac-12 Conference, including a 12-0 win over Washington State in its last meeting with a league school on Feb. 15, 2015, in Nacogdoches, Texas.

STARTING STRONG
With their MVC series win at Indiana State over the weekend, the Bears have now won 12 of their last 13 Valley openers and have won or split 11 of their last 13 MVC-opening series. Additionally, MSU is a combined 26-10 in its opening conference series since 2006. 

Missouri State posted its best-ever-start to a Valley season in 2017 as part of its 22-game MVC win streak. The Bears won their first 18 conference games 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). 

STREAKING AT HAMMONS
With their midweek loss to Mizzou on Tuesday, the Bears saw their 10-game Hammons Field win streak come to an end. MSU's 2018 home mark fell to 11-3, but the Bears' double-digit home win streak represented the sixth different streak of at least six home victories since the start of the 2015 season, as well as the Bears' third-longest home streak since moving to Hammons Field in 2004. The longest such streak is 16 straight victories from April 18, 2015 through March 6, 2016.

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 73-21 (.777) home record, including a 26-7 mark in MVC play, since the start of the 2015 season.

STEINMETZ ON A ROLL
After starting the season with only five hits in his first 30 at-bats, junior outfielder Hunter Steinmetz has keyed a recent surge that has seen the Bears go 18-5 since March 3. Over the same span, Steinmetz has hit .330 (31-for-94) with 21 RBIs and 24 runs scored. 

The Springfield native recorded a hit in nine straight games, March 20-31, hitting .389 with 11 RBIs. After seeing his streak end last Friday vs. Evansville, Steinmetz has responded by going 6-for-13 over the last three contests.

POLL POSITION
With their weekend sweep of Evansville, the Bears solidified their position in four of the major college baseball polls, moving to a peak position of No. 19 in this week's D1Baseball.com poll, while Missouri State debuted in both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (No. 24) and USA Today Coaches (No. 25) polls. Each position represents a regular-season best for the Bears, who have now garnered a regular-season top 25 ranking in each of the last four seasons. 

At No. 7 in this week's NCBWA, USA Today Coaches and Perfect Game polls, Oregon State will be the highest ranked opponent to play Hammons Field a visit since the 2009 season, when fourth-ranked Arkansas (Collegiate Baseball) claimed a 2-0 victory over the Bears for a three-game set Friday and Saturday. MSU, which is 3-2 versus ranked foes this season, posted a road win over an ECU squad that is currently ranked as high as No. 7 (D1Baseball), as well as two home wins over then No. 30 Arkansas State (NCBWA).

Overall, the Bears are 16-17 versus ranked opponents at home since moving to Hammons Field in 2004. The highest- ranked opponent the Bears have defeated at Hammons was 11th-ranked Arkansas on April 11, 2006. MSU is 0-6 against top 10 teams at Hammons.

EIERMAN GOLDEN
Junior shortstop Jeremy Eierman picked up another national honor Tuesday with his selection to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List. The midseason watch list features 40 of the nation's top amateur players from the college ranks. The Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board will continue to maintain a rolling list of athletes, allowing players to play themselves into consideration for the award before announcing the semifinalists on May 21.

Eierman was a unanimous preseason All-America and the No. 9 college prospect for the 2018 MLB Draft, as well as the No. 17 overall prospect, by Baseball America prior to the start of the season. He currently leads the Bears in batting (.303), hits (37), runs scored (29), doubles (12), home runs (5), total bases (68) and stolen bases (16) on the heels of a breakthrough 2017 season that earned the Warsaw, Mo., product first-team All-America recognition and a spot on USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team last summer.

COLEMAN CLIMBING
Junior right-hander Dylan Coleman picked up his fifth mound victory of the season March 30 with a 4-3 decision over Indiana State, striking out seven Sycamores over 6.2 innings. He moved into the Bears' top five for career strikeouts last Friday, passing Jordan Knutson and Jarrod Mays with his six-strikeout effort vs. Evansville. Coleman, who fanned an MVC-high 106 batters in 2016, needs five more K's to match the career total of Brett Sinkbeil, who currently occupies the No. 4 spot on the list with 256 K's.

Coleman also needs one more win to crack the Bears' all-time top 10 list for that category. With 19 wins, he trails five different Bears — most recently Sam Perez (2013-16) — in the 10th spot with 20 victories.

BEARS ON RADIO
Once again in 2018, Meyer Communications is slated to provide live radio coverage of all 52 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
The Missouri Valley Conference announced Monday (April 9) that selected regular-season digital productions, plus post-season championship coverage, will be distributed on ESPN+ — the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company Direct-to-Consumer and International group in partnership with ESPN.

Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 per month (or $49.99 per year) and cancel at any time.

Launching on Thursday, April 12, ESPN+ will be an integrated part of a completely redesigned ESPN App. The new ESPN App will be the premier all-in-one digital sports platform for fans and is a showcase of the company's culture of innovation. The Valley, which is in the fourth year of a 10-year national rights-holding agreement with ESPN, will start its programming schedule on ESPN+ on April 13, with Saturday's series final with OSU marking the Bears' debut on the new platform.