Prime 9
- The Missouri State Bears return to Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend when they host the Bradley Braves for a three-game league series at Hammons Field
- The Bears own a 68-37 all-time edge over the Braves in a series that dates back to 1982; MSU has swept BU in each of its last five regular-season series at Hammons Field and has claimed 19 of the last 23 meetings in the series
- Missouri State's bullpen has closed out 163 consecutive victories — including 11 this season — when the Bears have taken a lead into the ninth inning, dating back to May 2014
- MSU has played the 16th-toughest non-conference schedule in the nation, as well as the 19th-strongest overall slate, according to WarrenNolan.com; the Bears have matched up against clubs with .500 or better records in 32 of their 40 contests to date, including 21 games against top 50 RPI teams
- The Bears lead the MVC in pickoffs with 13 on the season; three different MSU hurlers — Logan Thomazin, Davis Schwab and Logan Wiley — have picked off three baserunners, as has catcher Logan Geha
- Junior catcher Drew Millas has recorded at least one hit in 21 of his last 24 games and has reached base safely via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in 14-straight games
- Junior first baseman Ben Whetstone leads the Valley in doubles (5) during league play, while also pacing the circuit in double plays turned (32), putouts (284) and total defensive chances (306) for the season
- MSU's 36 home runs as a team rank second in the MVC, while the Bears' also rank among the league's best clubs in hit by pitches (40) and walks (155), ranking third and fourth, respectively
- Logan Wiley earned MVC Pitcher of the Week honors after working the first complete game of his career last Friday vs. UNO; Wiley is 2-0 with a 3.20 ERA in three April starts and ranks seventh in the MVC in strikeouts (51)
Leading Off
After a week hiatus from Missouri Valley Conference play, the
Missouri State Bears resume league action this weekend when they welcome the
Bradley Braves to Hammons Field for a three-game MVC series. The Bears and Braves will open their series with a 2 p.m. (CDT) contest Friday (April 26) afternoon, before squaring off again Saturday (12 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.) to wrap up the weekend.
The Bears (13-27, 4-5 MVC) and Braves (24-13, 4-5 MVC) enter the weekend tied for the No. 5 position in the Valley standings. MSU claimed each of its first two league series, taking two of three games from both Indiana State and Southern Illinois, before being swept at Illinois State two weeks ago. Bradley dropped all three games of its Valley-opening series at Evansville, before rebounding to sweep SIU and take one meeting from DBU.
MSU brings a notable home mark of 26-1 in its last nine Valley series at Hammons Field since May 2016. The Bears are just 6-7 at home this season after splitting their four games at Hammons last week.
Series History
Missouri State has enjoyed a lengthy run of recent success against the Braves, claiming 19 of the last 23 meetings going back to the 2012 MVC Tournament. Last year, the Bears took two of the clubs' three meetings in Peoria, after sweeping the Braves in their most-recent trip to Hammons Field two seasons ago.
Overall, the Bears hold a 68-37 advantage in the series, including a 36-12 mark at home thanks to a 10-game Hammons Field win streak vs. BU and 16 wins in their last 17 home dates with the Braves. Since moving to Hammons in 2004, MSU has gone 20-4 against Bradley at home, with three-game sweeps in each of their last five regular-season (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017) Valley series with the Braves. The Bears have not lost a regular-season home contest to BU since April 8, 2007, a streak that now includes 15-consecutive Valley games.
A-Okay In April
Missouri State's offense has enjoyed a spring-like renewal in the month of April, registering a .283 team batting mark in its last 14 games since the turn of the calendar. The Bears, who hit just .209 while being outscored by a 202-101 margin in their first 26 games, have raised their team average to 27 points to .236 and out-homered the opposition by a 21-10 spread to slug .473 as a club in their 14 April contests. MSU has tallied at least nine hits in nine of those games, including five of its top six single-game hit totals of the season. Individually, five different Bears regulars have hit better than .300 during April, including
Ben Whetstone (13 games) and
Jack Duffy (11 games), who have each logged hit streaks of 10 games or more this month.
Veteran's Day
The Bears' resurgence has been fueled by a suddenly-hot veteran corps consisting of
Ben Whetstone,
Drew Millas,
Jack Duffy and
John Privitera, who have combined to hit .361 (79-for-219) during MSU's April hot streak at the plate. The same quartet has scored 47 of MSU's 97 runs and accounted for 46 of the team's 87 RBIs in the Bears' 14 April games as well. On the mound, fellow junior
Logan Wiley has gone 2-0 with a 3.20 ERA, the first complete-game of his MSU career and 22 total strikeouts in 19.2 innings over three April starts.
Big Ben Chimes In
Ben Whetstone became the second Bear in three weeks to earn on of
Collegiate Baseball's national player of the week honors on Monday. The junior first baseman entered the week riding a hot streak over which the junior logged six multi-hit performances during a career-best 13-game hit streak, which came to an end with his 0-for-2 performance Tuesday at Mizzou. Whetstone clubbed three home runs and drove in 10 runs while scoring six of his own and helping the Bears turn seven double plays in their four games last week.
The Overland Park, Kan., product hit a team-best .388 (19-for-49) with four homers and 17 RBIs, while slugging .755 during his streak, which began on April 2. He leads the MVC in double plays turned (32), putouts (284) and total defensive chances (306), while also ranking among the league's offensive leaders in several categories. Whetstone leads the MVC in doubles (5) and ranks fifth in hits (13) and ninth in batting (.361) during MVC play. Overall, his 10 doubles on the season represent the seventh-best total in the circuit.
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, MSU newcomers have appeared a combined total of 139 times in the Bears' starting lineup, with five more rookies drawing a total of 19 starting mound assignments in the first 40 games of the season.
MSU's group of newcomers has been instrumental in the Bears' run production so far this spring, with six first-year players combining to account for 73 of the clubs' 175 total RBIs and 21 of its 36 home runs. Sophomore transfer
Joey Polak has started all 40 games at third base and shares the league lead with three homers during MVC play, while ranking among the top 10 Valley hitters in batting (.367), slugging (.767), on-base percentage (.462) and RBIs (12) during conference play.
Wiley Wins Valley Honor
Junior right-hander
Logan Wiley earned the first Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week honor of his career Monday on the heels of a complete-game victory over New Orleans. Wiley recorded his first complete-game effort as a Bear in Friday's 6-1 win that clinched a series win. The Springfield, Mo., native struck out a career-high nine hitters, scattered four hits and four walks while permitting just one unearned run to notch his second mound victory of the season.
Wiley became the second Bear this season to earn the Valley's pitcher of the week honor, joining sophomore closer
Connor Sechler, who nabbed the award on April 1. 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., product worked the final 3 2/3 innings of a 6-5, 11-inning decision in the opener, then piggy-backed a strong start from 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.
For Openers
On the heels of another successful opening of a Missouri Valley Conference season, MSU now has a 44-9 overall record in Valley play in its last 53 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.
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.
Bears on ESPN
Missouri State University, in conjunction with SIDEARM Sports, launched a new partnership in August 2016, unveiling a reconstructed
MissouriStateBears.com, the official MSU Athletics web site. The revamped
MissouriStateBears.com will provide MSU fans with improved features and overall customer service. The new-and-improved site uses the latest technology to provide fans with a seamless, robust experience unique to Missouri State University.
In 2015, ESPN and the Missouri Valley Conference announced a 10-year extension to their current media rights agreement that will provide increased coverage of conference events across ESPN platforms through the 2023-24 academic year. Fans can keep tabs on the Bears through
The Valley on ESPN. As part of the deal, ESPN, the MVC and its 10 member institutions will work jointly to develop in-house production capabilities at each campus that will provide significant coverage for multiple sports on ESPN+/ESPN3.
