Missouri State Bears (7-19) at Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (14-14)
Site:	Capaha Field (2,000) | Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Date:	Tuesday, April 2 | 6 p.m.
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM | RadioSpringfield.com
Follow:	Live Stats | @MSUBearBaseball
Game Notes:	Missouri State | SEMO
Series History:	MSU leads 65-40

Prime 9

• The Missouri State Bears will kick off a nine-game road swing Tuesday (April 2) with a 6 p.m. game against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
• The Bears and Redhawks have met 105 times in a series that dates back to 1964, with MSU holding a 65-40 edge    
• MSU is a combined 10-4 against the Ohio Valley Conference since 2015, with two of those losses coming at SEMO
• Bears closer Connor Sechler was named MVC Pitcher of the Week Monday for the second time in his  MSU career after tossing 6.1 scoreless innings in two MSU victories over Indiana State over the weekend
• Sechler ranks among the Valley's top 10 hurlers in ERA (2.43), strikeouts (33), opponent average (.198), games finished (8) and total appearances (11)
• Dakota Kotowski has hit .343 (12-for-35) over the Bears' last 10 games, with hits in eight of those contests
• Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin ranks fifth among all active NCAA Division I coaches in total wins (1,266) and needs five more victories to into the No. 19 position on the NCAA's Division I all-time coaching wins list
• The Bears have posted victories in 157 consecutive contests in which they have taken a lead into the ninth inning    
• MSU has 82 combined come-from-behind wins over the last four-plus seasons, including rallying from an eight-run deficit to knock off Oklahoma by an 11-8 score on March 15       

Leading Off
The Missouri State Bears kick off a nine-game road swing Tuesday (April 2) evening with a 6 p.m. (CDT) non-conference game against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Bears will then travel to Murray, Ky., Wednesday to square off against another Ohio Valley Conference foe, the Murray State Racers. First pitch from Reagan Field is scheduled for 4 p.m. (CDT).

The Bears (7-19) will attempt to build on a successful opening weekend of Missouri Valley Conference play that saw them take two of three games from Indiana State at Hammons Field. Southeast Missouri (14-14) dropped two of three OVC games with Eastern Illinois over the weekend and enters the week having lost four of its last five contests overall.  

After concluding its midweek action Wednesday, Missouri State will meet Southern Illinois for a three-game MVC set in Carbondale, Ill., beginning with a 6:30 p.m. tilt on Friday (April 5).

Series Histories
Missouri State holds a commanding 65-40 edge over SEMO in a series that dates all the way back to the Bears' inaugural season of 1964. The Redhawks have been one of MSU's most-frequent opponents, with the 105 total games ranking behind only Indiana State (121 games), Wichita State (112) and Southern Illinois (111) in terms of series length for Bears' opponents. The Bears hold a 27-24 advantage against SEMO in Cape Girardeau, but have lost two in a row at Capaha Field and three of their last four meetings on the road in the series.

Wednesday's game with Murray State will mark the Bears' first trip to play the Racers on their home turf since 1991. The Bears won last year's meeting by a 5-4 score in Springfield and have claimed two in a row from Murray. Overall, MSU is  3-1 against the Racers in Murray and 134-82 overall against the current membership of the Ohio Valley Conference.

For Openers
On the heels of another successful Missouri Valley Conference opening series this past weekend, MSU has now won 42-5 overall record in Valley play in its last 47 conference games. The Bears logged an 18-1 Valley season to capture the 2017 conference crown, then followed that effort with an 18-3 MVC slate last spring to become just the second club (joining Wichita State) to win back-to-back regular-season titles.

After taking two of three games from Indiana State to begin the 2019 MVC slate, the Bears have also won 13 of their last 14 Valley openers and have won or split 12 of their last 14 MVC-opening series. Additionally, MSU is a combined 28-11 in its opening conference series since 2006.

Dak Doing Work
Bears freshman outfielder Dakota Kotowski has emerged as a force in the middle of the MSU lineup, hitting .343 (12-for-35) with hits in eight of the Bears' last 10 contests since March 16. The Channahon, Ill., product recorded three multi-hit games on the Bears' most-recent five-game home stand. Kotowski logged a pair of two-hit games in MSU's MVC series win over Indiana State after registering a career-best three hits against No. 8 Arkansas last Tuesday.

Powering Boost
After hitting just three home runs as a team through their first 10 games of the season, the Bears have experienced a power surge of sorts over their last 16 contests. MSU doubled its season total with three long balls in its series at Arkansas State (March 8-10), getting solo shots from Logan Geha and Collin Clayton and a two-run bomb from Dakota Kotowski. The home runs by Clayton and Kotowski marked their first as Bears. Of MSU's 15 homers so far, five of them (including Anthony Herron, Jr., and Javier Ramos) have come from newcomers hitting their first round-trippers in Maroon and White.

Geha, in particular, has enjoyed a recent power binge, clubbing three long balls in MSU's five games in Oklahoma the week of March 12-17. The junior catcher/outfielder hit all four of his home runs in a six-game span (March 10-17), including his first grand slam as a Bear that helped key MSU's comeback victory at Oklahoma on March 15.

Righting the Ship
While the Bears' 5-18 start represented their worst-ever start through 23 games, they do own a lengthy track record of flipping early results under head coach Keith Guttin. On four separate occasions, MSU has overcome sluggish starts to post winning overall records. The Bears have registered two seasons (1996 and 1997) in which they ultimately earned postseason bids after getting off to rocky starts, and another (2009) that culminated in a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title.

In 1996 and 1997, the Bears captured their first two MVC Tournament titles, but not before getting off to a 9-13 start in 1996 and a 1-8 start the following year. MSU's previous all-time worst start in 1993 saw the Bears open with just six wins in their first 21 contests, only to end up with a 32-23 season mark after winning 25 of their final 29 regular-season games. Finally, the 2009 Bears got off to a 4-10 start, only to rebound to finish 34-20, including a 17-5 mark during their Valley title run.

Sechler Earns Valley Honor
After logging a total of 6.1 shutout innings in a pair of dominant relief outings this past weekend, Missouri State sophomore Connor Sechler was named Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

Sechler played pivotal roles in each of the Bears' back-to-back wins over Indiana State that locked up a season-opening Valley series win for MSU. The Bolivar, Mo., native worked the final 3 2/3 innings of Friday's 6-5, 11-inning decision, fanning five Sycamores and stranding the potential go-ahead baserunners in scoring position in three different innings. In Sunday's series-clinching 1-0 victory, he piggy-backed a strong start from Logan Wiley with 2 2/3 hitless frames of relief, striking out five more ISU hitters to help pave the way to the Bears' 26th consecutive home MVC regular-season win. The sophomore All-American would work out of a jams in the eighth and ninth innings, striking out the side in the latter after a two-base throwing error opened the inning.

For the season, Sechler is 2-2 with a 2.42 ERA and one save to go along with 33 strikeouts in 26.0 innings. He ranks among the Valley's top 10 pitchers in ERA, strikeouts, opponent average (.198), games finished (8) and total appearances (11). The weekly MVC honor is the first this season for a Bear and the second such award for Sechler, who earned the same honor April 2, 2018.

What A Relief
While the Bears have held a lead in just 10 of their 26 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 have claimed victories in 157 consecutive games in which MSU has taken a lead into the ninth inning, including a perfect 5-0 mark in such contests this season. The Bears bullpen has posted an uncharacteristic 6.71 staff ERA through the first 26 games, but two mainstays from last year — sophomore closer Connor Sechler and senior lefty Jake Lochner — have combined to post a 3.29 ERA in 38.1 innings of relief with 43 total 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.