Prime 9
- The Missouri State Bears will conclude both the home portion of its schedule and the 2019 regular season this weekend when they host the Valparaiso Crusaders in a three-game MVC series at Hammons Field
- MSU brings a perfect 5-0 series mark against the Crusaders into Thursday's opener, which will mark the two squads first meeting in Springfield; the Bears swept Valpo in the two clubs initial MVC series last May
- The Bears will honor their lone fourth-year senior Jake Lochner, as well as two-year letterwinnners Davis Schwab and Brooks Zimmerman on Senior Day prior to Saturday's series finale
- MSU has played the 19th-toughest non-conference schedule in the nation, as well as the 26th-strongest overall, according to WarrenNolan.com; the Bears have matched up against clubs with .500 or better records in 38 of their 50 contests to date, including 23 games against top 50 RPI teams
- Since starting the season 0-5, Logan Wiley has registered a 3-0 mound mark to go along with a 2.66 ERA in his last six starts, striking out 43 hitters in 47.1 innings
- The Bears lead the MVC in pickoffs with 17 on the season; three different MSU hurlers — Logan Thomazin, Schwab and Wiley — have picked off three baserunners, as has catcher Logan Geha
- Junior first baseman Ben Whetstone leads the Valley in double plays turned (45), putouts (362) and defensive chances (392) for the season; he also brings a career .307 batting average into this weekend's series, which is tops among all active MSU position players
- MSU's 43 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 (49) and walks (205), ranking third and fourth, respectively
- Dakota Kotowsk's 11 home runs is the top total by a Bears freshman since Ryan Howard hit a MSU rookie-record 19 round-trippers in 1999; Kotowski needs four more to match Jason Hart (1996) in the No. 2 spot on MSU's freshman home run list
Leading Off
With an eye on building momentum heading into next week's Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship, the
Missouri State Bears will host the
Valparaiso Crusaders for a three-game MVC set this weekend at Hammons Field. The Bears and Crusaders will open the series with a 6:30 p.m. (CDT) game Thursday (May 16), before squaring off in single games Friday (6:30 p.m.) and Saturday (12 p.m.) to conclude the regular season.
The Bears (16-34, 7-11 MVC) dropped two of their three one-run games at Evansville last weekend, despite rallying from an 8-1 deficit in game two for a 10-9 victory. MSU enters the final weekend of Valley play assured of a spot in Tuesday's play-in round at the MVC Tournament in Normal.
Valparaiso (14-32, 6-12 MVC) enter the weekend one game behind the Bears for the sixth spot in the conference standings following a three-game sweep of Southern Illinois last week.
Series History
This weekend's series will mark the first-ever meetings of the two programs in Springfield, with MSU holding a 5-0 advantage in the series following a three-game road sweep of the Crusaders last May.
Drew Millas and
John Privitera powered the MSU offense, hitting a combined .500 (12-for-24) in the series, while
Connor Sechler logged a mound victory and a save in three tightly-contested games in Indiana.
The Bears and Crusaders had met on just two previous occasions prior to Valpo joinging the MVC, both coming in the opening round of the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament — a 2-1 MSU victory at the 1985 tourney in Charleston, Ill., and a 4-2 Bears win in the 1987 league meet in Chicago.
Senior Sendoff
Missouri State's three-game series with Valpo this weekend will mark the final chapters in the Hammons Field careers of three seniors. Pitcher
Jake Lochner is the lone four-year letterwinner on the 2019 roster. The second-generation Bear has been a part of 137 MSU victories — including 68 at Hammons — over his four-year career. Two-year lettermen
Davis Schwab and
Brooks Zimmerman will also be recognized before the Bears' final home contest Saturday.
Duffy at Home in the Top Spot
Since moving to the top of the Bears' batting order on April 12,
Jack Duffy has settled into the role of offensive catalyst nicely, logging a .338 (26-for-77) batting mark in MSU's last 18 games.
The junior outfielder has recorded eight multi-hit performances, including a career-best four-hit effort vs. New Orleans on April 20, and has reached base safely in 17 of the 18 contests. The Kansas City product has also swiped three bags, including his second steal of home this season April 27 against Bradley, as well as two of his three outfield assists on the season during the same stretch.
Kotowski Climbing
Bears freshman outfielder
Dakota Kotowski belted his 11th home run of the season in the Bears' 4-3 setback at Evansville Sunday. Kotowski brings an 11-game hit streak into Thursday's game, having hit .350 with four homers and 14 RBIs over the same stretch (since April 23). The Channahon, Ill., native leads the MVC in slugging (.730) and ranks second in total bases (46) during Valley play.
Additionally, Kotowski owns the No. 3 position on MSU's freshman home run list, needing four more homers to equal the freshman total of Jason Hart (1996) in the No. 2 spot on the list and 10 more to catch all-time freshman home run leader Ryan Howard (1999). 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 94 of the clubs' 222 RBIs and 25 of its 42 home runs.
Sechler Saves Another
Bears sophomore closer
Connor Sechler notched career save number 13 Saturday at Evansville, locking up a 10-9 MSU victory with a perfect ninth inning. The Bolivar, Mo., product climbed into a tie with Bob Zimmermann (2001-03) for fifth place on the Bears' career saves list and needs one more to match Tyler Burgess' (2012-14) MSU total for the fourth spot on the chart.
Wiley Working Into Form
Bears junior right-hander
Logan Wiley has been MSU's most consistent starter since the beginning of Valley play, winning three-consecutive decisions and posting a 2.66 ERA in his last seven starts. Since starting the season 0-5 through his first seven starts, Wiley has fanned 43 hitters in 47.1 innings, completing at least 5.0 innings in all seven starts since March 31.
The Springfield, Mo., product ranks among the conference's top hurlers in several statistical categories during Valley play. His 38.1 innings is the fourth-ranked total in the MVC, while his two mound victories (ninth), 34 strikeouts (eighth) and 2.82 ERA (seventh) also rank among the top 10 individual marks in the circuit.
Bears on the 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.
