MSU Softball Begins Home Stand Against Loyola

Saturday, March 16

Springfield

12:00 p.m.

Missouri State University

Loyola Chicago

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MSU Softball Begins Home Stand Against Loyola

March 15, 2019 | Softball

Game Notes Live Stats Watch (Sun.)

By: MSU Athletics Communications

Missouri State (14-9, 1-1 MVC) vs. Loyola Chicago (15-4, 0-0 MVC)
Dates	Saturday, March 16 & Sunday, March 17, 2019
Site \| Location	Killian Stadium (1,200), Springfield, Mo.
Game 1	Saturday, 12:00 p.m. \| Live Stats \| MSU Game Notes
Game 2	Saturday, (approx.) 2:30 p.m. \| Live Stats \| MSU Game Notes
Game 3	Sunday, 11:02 a.m. \| ESPN3 \| Live Stats \| MSU Game Notes
Missouri State	Softball Home Page \| Twitter \| Facebook \| Season Preview Video

The Prime Nine

Missouri State opens a seven-game home stand at Killian Stadium this weekend when the Bears open their 2019 home softball schedule against Loyola Chicago (15-4) on Saturday and Sunday. The Bears are 9-4 all-time against Loyola, including a 6-0 record at Killian Stadium. The Bears enter the weekend with six wins in their last eight games.
Daphne Plummer (So., Lee's Summit, Mo.) batted .364 (4-of-11) against Loyola in three starts against the Ramblers last season with a double, RBI and a walk. She had a 7-game hitting streak snapped in Thursday's game at SEMO, but had a key RBI sac fly in the third inning of that game.
In last year's series at Loyola, the Bears won two out of three, but got a quality outing from Erin Griesbauer (Jr., Blue Springs, Mo.) in the 4-3, eight-inning loss in game 2. Griesbauer allowed 2 earned runs in 6.1 innings of work with no walks and a pair of strikeouts. She is coming off a great outing at SEMO Thursday, allowing just one earned run in 3.1 innings of relief with a strikeout against the Redhawks.
Madison Hunsaker (So., Peculiar, Mo.) was 3-for-3 with an RBI in one appearance against Loyola last season. She has hit safely in 20-of-23 games this spring, including a 17-game hitting streak from Feb. 8 to March 1, the longest by any Bear since 1996. Hunsaker enters the weekend tied for the MVC lead in doubles (7).
MSU ranks 34th nationally in double plays per game (0.48), having turned a league-high 11 twin killings in 2019.
Kyana Mason (Sr., Independence, Mo.) ranks 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference in hitting at .406. She was named MVC Player of the Week on March 4 and has hit safely in six of the last seven games with 9 runs scored in that span. With the recent season-ending injury to Morgan Greenlee, Mason is the Bears' only active senior.
Steffany Dickerson (So., Oklahoma City, Okla.) has hit safely in 3 straight games and in 7-of-8, dating back to Feb. 28. Her 8-3 record puts her in the top 40 nationally in wins, and her 55 strikeouts is tied for fourth in The Valley.
Payton Minnis (Fr., Blue Springs, Mo.) now has enough at-bats to qualify for the league lead in hitting headed into the weekend. Minnis is batting a Valley-best .526 (10-for-19) on the season and has started the last 6 games with a .529 average as a starter. She was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on March 4.
The Bears have a dozen freshmen and sophomores on their 2019 roster, making them one of the youngest programs in the MVC. Among its 16 active players, MSU has 7 freshmen, 5 sophomores and a junior transfer.
A pair of Bears blasted their way out of hitting slumps in Thursday's game at SEMO. Kelly Metter (So., Columbia, Ill.) ended a 2-for-15 stretch with a huge solo home run in the fifth inning, her first of the year. Likewise, Alex Boze (Fr., Swansea, Ill.) ended an 0-for-12 stint by going 2-for-2 against the Redhawks with a walk.
Over the last 6 games, Darby Joerling (Jr., Defiance, Mo.) has collected 4 walks and 6 hits as a needed spark at the bottom of the MSU order.

Head Coach Holly Hesse

Bears head coach Holly Hesse is in her 31st season leading the Bears' program as the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history with a 795-776-2 record. She began the 2019 season ranked 32nd among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories.
Coach Hesse is 9-4 all-time against Loyola.
Hesse joined the 700-victory club with a 4-0 win at Illinois State on April 18, 2015, completing a doubleheader sweep in Normal, Ill. She then picked up her 750th win on Feb. 9, 2018 with a 4-0 win over Mississippi Valley State at the Bulldog Kickoff Classic in Starkville, Miss.
She is the winningest coach in Missouri State history, and her tenure includes two regular-season MVC titles, five MVC tournament crowns and five NCAA Tournament appearances.
The most notable program wins under Hesse have come against Michigan (1996), Alabama (2006) and Oklahoma (1995, 1998, 1999, 2008) all of which have gone on to win NCAA DI National Championships.
Hesse has coached 34 different first-team all-conference players which have received 49 first-team all-conference honors. Twenty-one of Hesse's players have gone on to earn NFCA All-Midwest Region honors.
Recent statewide honors for Hesse include induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Staff Excellence in Public Affairs Award, presented to her in 2016 by the Missouri State University Board of Governors for distinctive work and accomplishments in support of Missouri States public affairs mission.

Series History

Missouri State leads the all-time series against Loyola, 9-4, including a 6-0 mark at Killian Stadium. The Bears swept three-game series from the Ramblers in both 2015 and 2017.
Last season, the Bears took two out of three games from Loyola at Loyola Softball Park in Chicago. In the first game (April 21), Holly Kelley threw a one-hitter and struck out nine, while Madison Jones drove home the game-winning run in a 2-1 Bears win. In the second game, Loyola overcame a 3-1 deficit in the 7th inning to defeat MSU, 4-3, in 8 innings. Darian Frost was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, and Daphne Plummer was 2-for-4 for MSU in the game. In the series finale (April 22), Kelley threw a three-hit shutout in a 2-0 MSU victory. Madison Hunsaker was 3-for-3 with an RBI, while Plummer was 2-for-3 with a 2B for Missouri State.

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