Prime 9
- The Missouri State Bears will continue their home-opening stretch Friday (March 1) with a 1 p.m. (CST) doubleheader against the nationally-ranked UC Irvine Anteaters at Hammons Field
- Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin ranks fifth among all active NCAA Division I coaches in total wins (1,262) and needs nine more victories to match the career total of former Miami (Fla.) coach Ron Fraser for the No. 19 position on the NCAA's Division I coaching wins list  Â
- The Bears registered 19 hits in Wednesday's 15-3 win over Central Arkansas, marking their best single-game total in exactly three years (Feb. 27, 2016 vs. Alcorn State)
- MSU won its 10th home opener in 16 years at Hammons Field Tuesday vs. Central Arkansas; the win also marked the Bears' 250th victory at Hammons
- Collin Clayton has recorded a hit in seven-straight games since Feb. 16; the junior is batting .308 (8-for-26) over the course of his streak
- The Bears' roster features three different returners who have earned All-America recognition during their respective MSU careers, led by 2019 preseason Collegiate Baseball All-America picks Drew Millas and Connor Sechler   Â
- MSU has 80 combined come-from-behind wins over the last four seasons and went 13-2 in one-run games in 2018
- The Bears have posted a 88-43 (.672) regular-season non-conference mark over the last four seasons, including a 40-15 mark in non-MVC games at Hammons over the same stretch
- With a string of 27-consecutive error-less games at first base, Ben Whetstone (.993) brings the best career fielding percentage of any Bear in the 56-year history of the program into Friday's action  Â
Leading Off
The
Missouri State Bears will look to keep their home hot streak going Friday (March 1) when they host against the 30th ranked
UC Irvine Anteaters in a 1 p.m. (CST) doubleheader at Hammons Field. Both games are scheduled for seven innings.
The Bears (3-5) are coming off a two-game sweep of Central Arkansas in their initial home series of the 2019 season. MSU outscored UCA by a 24-10 margin, including a 15-3 victory in the second game in which its lineup banged out 19 hits and piled up 13 unanswered runs to seal the win. UC Irvine (5-3), ranked as high as No. 24 (Baseball America) in this week's polls, dropped its midweek contest with Loyola Marymount Tuesday, but posted a road series sweep of perennial national power Rice last weekend in Houston.
MSU will wrap up its first home stand of the season Tuesday (March 5) vs. Oral Roberts, before hitting the road for 11 straight March contests, beginning with a three-game series against Arkansas State (March 8-10) in Jonesboro.
Series History
Missouri State and UC Irvine will be squaring off for the first time on the diamond Friday. The Anteaters will be the second of three first-time Big West Conference opponents for the Bears in 2019. MSU dropped a 7-0 decision to No. 24 Cal State Fullerton last Friday at the Tony Gwynn Legacy in San Diego, and the Bears will make a trip to UC Santa Barbara for a three-game series March 22-24. MSU brings a cumulative 5-3 all-time record against Big West opponents into Friday's action, including a three-game sweep of CSUN at Hammons Field last March.
Johnny on the Spot
Junior second baseman
John Privitera has recorded a strong start to the season, entering the weekend with the top hit total (13) in The Valley. Privitera logged a red-hot opening weekend in Texas, batting .500 over three games for the Bears, including a stretch in which he reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in eight consecutive plate appearances. That streak represented the longest by a Bear in neraly three years since
Jake Burger's string of reaching base in nine-consecutive plate appearances from March 15-18, 2016.
The Lee's Summit, Mo., product has already matched his single-game career high with three hits on three separate occasions this season, including both games of the Bears' midweek series sweep of Central Arkansas (Feb. 26-27).
So Fresh and So Clean
Missouri State's talented freshman class has wasted little time in making an impression on Bears opponents this season. In MSU's two-game sweep of UCA in particular, Bears freshmen combined to hit .412 with two homers, 11 RBIs and seven runs scored. On the mound, four rookie hurlers logged a 2.84 ERA with 16 strikeouts over 12.2 combined innings in the series.
Logan Thomazin registered one of the more memorable debut starts by a Bear Wednesday, holding UCA hitless for 5 2/3 innings and striking out 11 hitters over 7.0 total innings of one-hit ball. The Walnut Grove, Mo., native leads the MVC in strikeouts with 18 and brings a team-best 1.38 ERA in three appearances into the weekend. Fellow freshman
Javier Ramos turned in a landmark debut at the plate as well, becoming the first Bear to belt a grand slam in his first collegiate at-bat as part of MSU's seven-run eighth inning Wednesday. Ramos's effort followed another freshman,
Anthony Herron, Jr., who homered in Tuesday's win and drove in four runs in the series. Additionally, freshman shortstop
Mason Hull produced his second multi-RBI effort of the season Wednesday and leads the club with five RBIs for the year.
Watch the Leather, Man
In addition to serving as a key cog in the Bears' lineup over the past two years, junior first baseman
Ben Whetstone has proven to be one of the top defensive performers in The Valley as well. The Overland Park, Kan., native moved into the top spot on the Bears' career fielding percentage chart after registering his 25th straight game without a defensive miscue last weekend vs. Fresno State. His 0.993 fielding mark as a Bear narrowly leads Steve Seal (1969-70) in the No. 2 position with a 0.992 percentage among all MSU defenders with at least 150 career fielding chances.
Home Sweet Hammons
Missouri State opened its 2019 home slate with a pair of convincing victories over Central Arkansas (Feb. 26-27), extending a recent home-field advantage of unprecedented proportions. The Bears have logged four of their top single-season home win totals since the 2015 season, going 17-6 at home last spring after a 21-7 home mark in 2017, a Hammons Field-record 22 victories in 2016 and the Bears' best-ever home win percentage at Hammons with a 19-3 (.864) mark in 2015.
With their two wins over UCA, the Bears may now boast of a combined 81-24 (.771) home record since the start of the 2015 season. The Bears have won 40 of their last 55 regular-season non-conference home games, outscoring their opponents by a 810-504 margin at Hammons over that stretch.
Bears on the Radio
Once again in 2019, Meyer Communications is slated to provide live radio coverage of all 56 Missouri State regular-season games, plus all Bears' games in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and any 2019 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.
