Prime 9
- The Missouri State Bears will hit the road for a three-game non-conference series this weekend against the Arkansas State Red Wolves at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro, Ark.
- 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 have enjoyed a run of recent success against ASU, winning six of the last seven meetings in the series and claiming seven of the last nine contests against the Red Wolves in Jonesboro since 2007
- MSU has prospered against schools hailing from Arkansas in general since the start of the 2015 season, going 25-7 against Division I foes from "The Natural State," including an 11-5 record in games played on Arkansas soil
- The Bears have gone 92-50 (.648) in road and neutral site contests over the last four years, including a 67-38 (.638) mark in true road games
- 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
- Anthony Herron, Jr., has reached base safely in six of his last nine plate appearances, going 5-for-8 with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored; Herron hit .429 with a home run and four RBIs in four total games last week and has scored at least one run in each of his last five starts dating back to Feb. 23 at San Diego
- Since allowing five earned runs vs. Nevada on Feb. 15, Logan Wiley has limited the opposition to three earned runs while striking out 11 hitters over his last two starts spanning 11.2 innings
Leading Off
The
Missouri State Bears will look to bounce back this weekend when they travel to Jonesboro, Ark., for a three-game non-conference set with the
Arkansas State Red Wolves at Tomlinson Stadium. The two teams are slated to open the series Friday (March 8) at 6 p.m., before playing single games Saturday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) to conclude the weekend.
The Bears (3-7) dropped both ends of their doubleheader with UC Irvine last Friday, falling by a 3-2 score in the opener, before succombing to the nationally-ranked Anteaters by a 4-1 score in 11 innings in the nightcap. ASU (8-5) claimed a 9-6 win over Central Arkansas Tuesday, after dropping three straight to Louisiana Tech last weekend.
Friday's series opener kicks off a string of 11 straight games away from home for the Bears. After concluding their stay in Jonesboro, the Bears will play five games in Oklahoma next week, visiting Oklahoma State Tuesday and Oral Roberts Wednesday and Oklahoma for a three-game weekend set.
Series History
One of the Bears' longest-standing rivalries, Missouri State holds a 44-23 all-time advantage in its series with Arkansas State which dates back to MSU's inaugural varsity season of 1964. The Bears have taken six of the last seven meetings in the series dating back to 2014, including a series win last March in Springfield. MSU's offense has been locked in against ASU over its the last five years, averaging 8.1 runs per outing, including a 13-0 white-washing of the Red Wolves in its last trip to Jonesboro on March 1, 2017.
The Bears have been solid on the road against ASU, claiming a 21-13 all-time mark against the Red Wolves in Jonesboro. Since the 2007 season, MSU has won seven of the nine meetings in the series at Tomlinson Stadium.
Johnny on the Spot
Junior second baseman
John Privitera has recorded a strong start to the season, entering the weekend with one of the top hit totals (14) 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 (Feb. 26-27) 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. Overall this season, 12 of the Bears' 13 newcomers have seen game action, including four position players who have established themselves as regulars in MSU's starting lineup, and three more rookies who have drawn starting mound assignments in the first 10 games of the season.
Logan Thomazin registered one of the more memorable debut starts by a Bear, holding UCA hitless for 5 2/3 innings and striking out 11 hitters over 7.0 total innings of one-hit ball on Feb. 27. The Walnut Grove, Mo., native leads the team in strikeouts with 18 and brings a 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 (Feb. 27). Ramos's effort followed another freshman,
Anthony Herron, Jr., who homered in the game one win and drove in four runs in the series. Additionally, freshman shortstop
Mason Hull produced his second multi-RBI effort of the season Feb. 27 and leads the club with five RBIs for the year.
Offensive Renaissance
After watching its offense sputter out of the gate with a .204 team batting mark while scoring just 16 total runs in its first six games of the season, Missouri State enjoyed a strong rebound in its first home series of the year last week. In two games against UCA, the Bears raised their team batting mark 52 points by hitting .380 and scoring 24 runs, including their first two home runs of the season, and four stolen bases.
John Privitera led the charge with back-to-back three-hit performances, while
Anthony Herron, Jr., hit .429 (6-for-14) overall in the Bears' four games last week.
Road to Success
MSU has proven to be hard to stop on the road over the past four seasons, logging a 67-38 (.638) record in such contests. Including their 25-12 record in neutral-field games over the same stretch, the Bears have gone 92-50 (.648) away from Hammons Field since the start of the 2015 season. The Bears went 14-8 in true road games a year ago, after logging 19 road wins in 2017 and a program-record 21 wins in 27 road contests in 2015. MSU's 0.857 win percentage on the road that year represented its best since 1978, when it posted an identical percentage with a 12-2 road mark. Coupled with their 9-3 record in neutral field contests in 2015, the Bears' total of 30 wins away from home was second only to national champion Virginia in the Division I ranks and qualified as the best in school history. The Bears also posted the longest road win streak in Division I baseball in 2015, claiming 11-straight victories from March 15 to April 25.
Non-Con Domination
MSU has been nearly unstoppable against non-conference competition over the last four seasons, compiling an 88-45 (.662) record in regular-season games versus non-league foes since the start of the 2015 season. The Bears, who have won 40 of their last 57 regular-season non-conference home games, outscoring their non-league opponents by a 813-511 margin at Hammons Field over the same stretch.
What a Relief
While the Bears have held a lead in just three of their eight contests this season to date, the Missouri State bullpen can boast of a recent track record of locking down victories. Dating back to May 2014, the Bears relief corps has closed out 155 consecutive victories in which MSU has taken a lead into the ninth inning.
The Bears bullpen has posted an uncharacteristic 6.97 staff ERA through the first 10 games, but two mainstays from last year—sophomore closer
Connor Sechler and senior lefty
Davis Schwab—have combined to log 15.0 innings of of relief with 17 strikeouts.
Bears on Radio
Once again in 2019, Meyer Communications is slated to provide live radio coverage of all 54 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.
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