Prime 9
- Missouri State ranks second in the Missouri Valley Conference in team earned run average (2.35), with eight different hurlers posting sub-3.00 ERA's for the season to date
- Bears pitchers have yielded a minuscule .206 opponent batting average, which represents a 100-point improvement from its first seven games of the 2019 season, when the opposition hit .306 against MSU hurlers
- Keith Guttin ranks fourth on the NCAA's Division I wins list for active coaches and 19th all-time with 1,282 victories for his 38-year career; he needs 18 wins to catch Fresno State's Bob Bennett in the 18th spot on the chart
- Logan Wiley has yet to allow a run in 15.0 innings, extending his personal scoreless streak to 16.2 consecutive innings dating back to May 21, 2019
- ORU holds a 31-24 series advantage against the Bears including a 20-11 edge vs. MSU in Tulsa; the Bears have won three of the last four meetings at J.L. Johnson Stadium since 2014, including an 11-2 victory last March
- MSU rates second in the Valley in double plays turned (7) and team fielding percentage (.981), ranking 18th and 43rd nationally, respectively
- Ben Whetstone cracked another MSU career list over the weekend, moving into 10th on the Bears' all-time double plays chart (96); the first baseman also ranks second in career fielding (.992) and 10th in putouts (936)Â
- Trey Ziegenbein leads the MVC and ranks second nationally in pitching appearances (5); the sophomore has struck out nine and allowed just one run on four hits in his 9.0 combined innings
- Grant Wood brings a seven-game hit streak into Tuesday's game, as well as a club-best .370 batting mark; the junior infielder ranks sixth in the Valley in hitting and fifth in both hits (10) and on-base percentage (.452)
Leading Off
After dropping three-straight games to conclude their weekend trip to Tennessee, the Missouri State Bears will attempt to rebound Tuesday (Feb. 25) afternoon when they meet the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles for a 3 p.m. contest at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Okla.
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Off to a 3-4 start to the season, the Bears defeated Austin Peay to open play in the Turface Classic on Thursday, before experiencing an offensive dry spell that saw them go scoreless over the final 32 innings spanning all four contests for the weekend. MSU suffered a 1-0, 11-inning setback to Belmont, then dropped matching 4-0 decisions against Lipscomb and Middle Tennessee to close out the classic.
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ORU (4-3) is coming off a series win over Baylor this past weekend in Waco, Texas. The Golden Eagles notched a 7-3 win in the series opener, before splitting the final two contests against the Bears.
Series History
ORU will bring a decisive 31-24 edge in its series with the Bears into play Tuesday, including a 21-11 advantage on its home turf. The Golden Eagles have won five of the last 10 meetings since 2013, but the Bears have taken four of the last five from ORU in Tulsa, however, splitting a pair of midweek contests in both 2012 and 2014, before claiming a 9-5 road victory in 2017 and an 11-2 decision last March at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
Wood WorkÂ
Bears junior transfer
Grant Wood has wasted no time in establishing himself as one of the key bats in the MSU lineup. The Jefferson City, Mo., product leads the team and ranks sixth in the Valley with his .370 batting average, while both his on-base percentage (.452) and hits total (10) rank fifth in the conference. Wood has started his Missouri State career with hits in each of the Bears' first seven contests, including three different multi-hit efforts, while posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage (in 16 defensive chances) on the MSU infield.
Pitching In
The depth and talent present on the Missouri State pitching staff has been on full display through the first seven games of the season. The Bears currently rank second in the MVC with both their 2.35 team ERA and .206 batting average against, while MSU leads the circuit in fewest earned runs allowed (16) for the season.
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In contrast to the 2019 season, the Bears posted a 7.80 team ERA, permitted a .306 opponent batting mark and allowed 52 earned runs through their first seven games. Even without the services of projected No. 1 starter
Ty Buckner due to injury, MSU has employed 10 different pitchers this season, with all but two registering a sub-3.00 ERA to date.
Logan Wiley leads the Valley with a perfect ERA through a league-best 15.0 innings to date, while his 14 strikeouts rank fifth in the conference. The Bears' bullpen has been stingy as well, with six different hurlers combining to post a 1.54 ERA and a .190 opponent average.
Missouri State's mound corps has benefited from a strong collective effort from its defense to start the new season. Through their first seven games, the Bears have recorded a .981 team fielding percentage, which is good for the second-best mark in the Valley. MSU has committed just five errors in 261 total defensive chances, marking a vast improvement from its defensive performance over the first seven games of the 2019 season. The Bears committed 11 miscues to log just a .956 team fielding percentage a year ago.
Cardiac Cubs
The Bears posted their first comeback victory of the season last week at Austin Peay (Feb. 20), overcoming an early one-run lead for the Governors in an eventual 4-1 Missouri State victory. MSU has made the comeback rally an art form in accumulating the most overall victories over a four-year period (170) in program history from 2015-18. Since the start of the 2015 season, the Bears have rallied for a victory on 91 separate occasions, including 21 times in 2018, which represented 52.5 percent of their overall season win total (40).
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Last spring, the Bears completed their second comeback victory from at least a seven-run deficit last season when they erased an 8-1 deficit en route to a 10-9 win over Evansville on May 11. That effort followed an 11-8 comeback win over Oklahoma (March 15), in what is believed to be the largest come-from-behind victory program history. MSU wiped out an 8-0, seventh-inning deficit by scoring seven times in the seventh, three more in the eighth and one in the ninth.Â
Non-Con Domination
MSU has been nearly unstoppable against non-conference competition over the last five seasons, compiling an 97-66 (.595) record in regular-season games versus non-league foes since the start of the 2015 season. The Bears have won 42 of their last 64 regular-season non-conference home games, outscoring their non-league opponents by a 856-575 margin at Hammons Field over the same stretch.
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.
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