Prime 9
- The Missouri State Bears will be looking for their seventh opening day win in its last eight season openers Friday; the Bears are 24-13 in openers under head coach Keith Guttin and 36-20 overall in season lid-lifters
- The Bears, who return 19 letterwinners from last year's squad, were picked second in the Missouri Valley Conference's preseason poll by the league's head coaches
- Second-team All-MVC outfielder Jack Duffy will bring a career-best 12-game hit streak into 2020; the Bears' center fielder has hit .377 (20-for-53) over the course of his streak (since May 4) and has reached base safely in 19-straight contests (April 19)
- The Bears' roster features six different returners who have earned all-conference recognition during their respective MSU careers, led by former Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America picks Ty Buckner and Dakota Kotowski; Buckner was a second-team choice in 2018, while Kotowski (first-team) earned MVC Freshman of the Year recognition last spring; Duffy (second-team), Ben Whetstone (honorable mention) and Logan Wiley (second-team) were honored by the MVC last year, and John Privitera grabbed first-team All-MVC laurels in 2018
- Wiley logged team-leading totals for wins (5), innings pitched (90.2) and strikeouts (82) last spring, ranking among the Valley's top 10 hurlers in ERA (3.67), innings and strikeouts after going 5-0 with a 2.66 ERA over his last nine starts of the season
- The Bears bring a 17-6 series edge against Central Arkansas into this weekend's three-game set; MSU also holds an 8-4 advantage vs. UCA in Conway, including opening day wins in 2014 and 2016
- Despite going just 2-4 against teams from the state of Arkansas last season, the Bears have posted a 24-12 overall mark against Division I teams from the 'Natural State' since the start of the 2015 campaign
- Guttin enters the 2020 season fourth on the NCAA's Division I wins list for active coaches and 19th all-time with 1,279 for his 37-year career; he is 21 wins away from Fresno State's Bob Bennett in the 18th spot on the chart
- Prior to its 16-4 season-opening setback against Nevada last February, MSU had outscored its last six opening-game opponents by a combined 53-11 margin and amassed 120 total runs during their five previous season-opening weekend series or tournaments; Since 2014, the Bears have gone a combined 14-5 and averaged 6.8 runs per outing on opening weekend
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Leading Off
The Missouri State Bears will open their 2020 season this weekend when they travel to Conway, Ark., for a three-game non-conference set against the Central Arkansas Bears at Bear Stadium. MSU will kick off its 57th season of varsity baseball Friday (Feb. 14) with a 3 p.m. game against their Southland Conference foe, before the two clubs conclude their opening weekend of play with 1 p.m. contests on both Saturday and Sunday.
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This weekend's action marks the first of five consecutive road trips for the Bears to open the new campaign. Following a four-game stay at the Mule Mix Classic (Feb. 20-23) in Tennessee next weekend, MSU will travel to Oral Roberts (Feb. 25) for its first midweek contest of the season. The Bears will head to Houston for a three-game series with Rice (Feb. 28-March 1), then conclude their 12-game road stretch with a March 3 visit to Stillwater, Okla., for a tilt with Oklahoma State.
Series History
Missouri State holds a 17-6 advantage over Central Arkansas in a series that extends back to the 2008 season. MSU, which swept a two-game series from the Bears last February in Springfield, has won nine of its last 10 games vs. UCA dating back to 2016.
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In the opening game of last year's sweep at Hammons Field, MSU overpowered UCA with a six-run, sixth-inning rally en route to a 9-7 home-opening win. Tied at 2-2 entering the inning, the Bears gashed UCA pitching for six-straight hits in the decisive frame, as eight-consecutive MSU hitters reached base to help the home club seize the lead for good. Anthony Herron Jr.'s RBI single plated the go-ahead run, punctuating a strong home debut by the freshman, who also homered in the victory. In game two, another rookie rose to the occasion for the Bears, as
Logan Thomazin dominated UCA over 7.0 innings of one-hit baseball, striking out 11 hitters to earn his first mound victory as a Bear. The freshman right-hander held the visitors hitless for 5 2/3 innings, fanning eight Bears through the first four frames, while the MSU offense pounded out 19 hits in the 15-3 win.
Missouri State is 24-13 in season openers under head coach
Keith Guttin and 36-20 overall as a program in such contests. MSU is just 11-12 all-time in road season openers, but will be looking for its seventh opening day victory in the last eight seasons on Friday. Prior to seeing their six-game, season-opening win streak come to an end last year vs. Nevada, the Bears had outscored their previous three opening-day opponents by a combined 32-4 margin with matching 12-1 wins over Central Arkansas (2016) and Rhode Island (2017), before topping Texas Southern by an 8-2 count to open the 2018 campaign. In spite of last year's defeat, the Bears have gone a combined 14-5 and averaged 6.8 runs per outing on opening weekend since 2014.
MSU has employed a potent offense in its openers in recent years, tallying an average of 9.0 runs per outing in its last six season debuts. Additionally, this weekend's action will mark the 20th consecutive year the Bears have opened on the road. MSU has opened two recent seasons in Conway, taking two of three from UCA to begin the 2014 campaign, then sweeping a three-game, season-opening series from the Bears in 2016. MSU has started seven of the last eight campaigns with at least six wins in its first 10 games (failing to do so only in 2019), including their best-ever start (10-1) to a season in 2017.
Road to Success
MSU has proven to be hard to stop on the road over the past five seasons, logging a 74-55 (.574) record in such contests. Including their 26-14 record in neutral-field games over the same stretch, the Bears have gone 100-69 (.592) away from Hammons Field since the start of the 2015 season.
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The Bears went 14-8 in true road games in 2018, 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. 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.
Duffy on a Tear
All-MVC outfielder
Jack Duffy will enter his senior campaign looking to build on a torrid stretch drive to the 2019 season that saw him record a hit in each of the Bears' final 12 contests. Over the Bears' final 33 games of the season Duffy logged a .371 (49-for-132) batting mark (March 29-May 23) and finished the year with a team-high 17 multi-hit performances.
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Since moving into the top spot in the MSU batting order, the two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete Team selection recorded 12 multi-hit performances, including a career-best four-hit effort vs. New Orleans on April 20, and reached base safely in 23 of the 24 contests, including 19 in a row to end the season. Duffy also swiped three bags, including his second steal of home this season April 27 against Bradley, and recorded two of his three outfield assists on the season during the same stretch.
Valley Forecast
Highlighted by a pair of selections to the 2020 Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Team, Missouri State was tabbed second in the Valley's annual preseason poll in a vote of the conference's head coaches. MSU will welcome back eight position starters and 10 total pitchers from last year's squad, including six veterans who have earned all-conference honors during their respective careers. The Bears will be looking to bounce back from a 20-36 campaign in 2019 and a sixth-place MVC finish – just their seventh second-division finish in 28 Valley seasons.
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Defending Valley co-champion DBU garnered five of the eight first-place votes and finished with 61 points overall to claim the top spot in the poll. The Patriots edged the Bears (51 points), who received one first-place vote, while Illinois State (49) and Indiana State (40) rounded out the top half of the preseason poll. Bradley (38) and Evansville (21) finished fifth and sixth, respectively, while Southern Illinois (18) and Valparaiso (10) were slotted into the final two positions in the poll.
In Rare Company
With Missouri State's 6-1 win over New Orleans on April 19, 2019, Bears head coach
Keith Guttin moved past legendary Miami coach Ron Fraser (1,271) to climb to the 19th position on the NCAA's Division I career coaching wins list.
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With a career record of 1,279-812 (.612), Guttin now needs 21 more victories to match the career total of Fresno State's Bob Bennett (1,300) in the No. 18 spot on the chart. Guttin is the second-winningest coach in MVC history, while his win total ranks fourth among all active Division I head coaches entering the 2020 season, his 38th at the Bears' helm.
Bears in the Pro Ranks
Two Missouri State baseball standouts reached contractual agreements with professional organizations following the conclusion of the 2019 season. With seventh-round pick
Drew Millas going to the Oakland Athletics as the 224th overall selection, the Bears closed the decade with their 16th player selection in the first 11 rounds of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft since 2010. MSU senior left-hander
Davis Schwab was also picked in the draft, going in the 37th round (the 1,117th overall selection) to the Atlanta Braves.
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Additionally, former Missouri State baseball standout Matt Hall became the 20th Bear to receive a call up to the big leagues in 2018. Hall became the fourth former Bear to earn a Major League roster spot in the last four years, following Luke Voit and Pierce Johnson in 2017 and Buddy Baumann in 2016. Overall, the Bears have produced 146 players who have gone on to sign professional contracts over their 56 years as a varsity program, including 127 during
Keith Guttin's 37-year tenure as head coach.
Bears on Radio
Once again in 2020, Meyer Communications is slated to provide live radio coverage of all 56 Missouri State regular-season games, plus all Bears' games in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and any 2020 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.Â
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.
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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.
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