Bears Trek to Texas for Three-Game Set With Rice

Friday, February 28

Houston, Texas

6:30 p.m.

Missouri State University

Rice

Bears Trek to Texas for Three-Game Set With Rice

February 27, 2020 | Baseball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes (PDF)

Missouri State Bears (4-4) at Rice Owls (0-7)
Site	Reckling Park (6,193) \| Houston, Texas
Game 1	Friday, Feb. 28 \| 6:30 p.m.
Game 2	Saturday, Feb. 29 \| 2:00 p.m.
Game 3	Sunday, March 1 \| 1:00 p.m.
Watch:	C USA.tv
Radio:	KBFL 1060 AM/96.9 FM
Follow:	Live Stats \| @MSUBearBaseball
Game Notes:	Missouri State \| R ice \| MVC Notebook
Series History:	Rice leads 5-0

Prime 9

Missouri State leads the Missouri Valley Conference in team earned run average (2.30), with eight different hurlers posting ERAs of 3.00 or lower for the season to date
Bears pitchers have yielded a minuscule .206 opponent batting average, which represents an 80-point improvement from its first eight games of the 2019 season, when the opposition hit
Keith Guttin ranks fourth on the NCAA's Division I wins list for active coaches and 19th all-time with 1,283 victories for his 38-year career; he needs 17 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
Rice has won each of the previous five meetings in the series, including NCAA postseason wins in 1997 (twice) and 2003; the Owls edged the Bears in Omaha to open the 2003 CWS en route to their lone national title
MSU rates third in the Valley in double plays turned (7) and fourth in team fielding (.976)
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 (943)
The trio of Hayden Juenger, Forrest Barnes and Trey Ziegenbein anchors a Bears bullpen that has posted a 1.32 ERA and .174 opponent average against to date; Juenger leads the MVC with his three saves, while Ziegenbein is third in pitching appearances (5) and fourth in opponent batting (.143)
Grant Wood brings an eight-game hit streak into Friday's game, as well as a club-best .367 batting mark; the junior infielder ranks sixth in the Valley in hitting and third in hits (11)

Leading Off

The Missouri State Bears will look to build some early-season momentum this weekend in Houston, where they will take on the Rice Owls in a three-game, non-conference series at Reckling Park. The Bears and Owls will open the set with a 6:30 p.m. contest Friday (Feb. 28), before playing single games Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) afternoon.

Missouri State (4-4) bounced back from three-straight losses with a 6-3 come-from-behind road victory over Oral Roberts on Tuesday. The Bears erased a 2-0 deficit to level their record at four wins and four losses, ultimately seizing control on a Grant Wood three-run homer in the ninth.

Rice (0-7) is coming off a 9-2 loss at Texas State Wednesday and enters Friday's game in search of its first victory of the season. The Owls were swept in each of their first two weekend series of the year against Texas and UC Irvine.

Series History

This weekend's action will mark the first meeting of the Bears and Owls since 2005, when Rice claimed an 8-2, season-opening win over MSU in the Coca-Cola Classic at Reckling Park. Rice has emerged victorious in all five of the two clubs' previous games in the series, which has included three NCAA postseason meetings. Most recently, the Owls bested MSU by a 4-2 score in Omaha (June 14, 2003) to open the 2003 College World Series, which Rice ultimately won for its first NCAA national title. The Owls also got the better of the Bears at the 1997 NCAA Central Regional in Lubbock, Texas, nipping MSU by a 5-2 score in the opening game (May 22, 1997), then routing the Bears 25-6 in the deciding game (May 25, 1997) of the meet after MSU battled back to win a pair of elimination games against Texas Tech and Nevada.

Wiley in Command

Senior right-hander Logan Wiley turned in yet another standout performance on the hill for MSU last Friday, holding Belmont to five hits in 8.0 shutout frames. The Springfield, Mo., native, who allowed three hits over 7.0 innings in a 1-0 season-opening win at UCA on Feb. 14 to earn MVC Pitcher of the Week recognition, extended his personal scoreless streak to 16.2 consecutive innings, dating back to last May 21 vs. Valparaiso at the MVC Championship. He has also registered wins in each of his last six decisions and now has seven quality starts in his last eight outings (since April 19, 2019), over which he has gone 5-0 with a 1.71 ERA.

Wood Work

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 belted the go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning of Tuesday's 6-3 win at ORU for his first round-tripper as a Bear. Wood also drove in the tying run in the fifth inning and finished the afternoon with four RBIs – the first four of his MSU career.

Wood leads the team and ranks sixth in the Valley with his .367 batting average, while his on-base percentage (.429), slugging percentage (.533), total bases (16) and hits (11) totals rank among the top 10 hitters in the conference. Wood has started his Missouri State career with hits in each of the Bears' first eight 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 eight games of the season. The Bears currently lead the MVC with both their 2.30 team ERA and 18 earned runs allowed, while their .206 batting average against ranks second in the circuit.

In contrast to the 2019 season, the Bears posted a 7.04 team ERA, permitted a .286 opponent batting mark and allowed 54 earned runs through their first eight 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 3.00 ERA or better 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 1.32 ERA and a .174 opponent average.

Doing it With Defense

Missouri State's mound corps has benefited from a strong collective effort from its defense to start the new season. Through their first eight games, the Bears have recorded a .976 team fielding percentage, which is good for the fourth-best mark in the Valley. MSU has committed just seven errors in 297 total defensive chances, marking a vast improvement from its defensive performance over the first eight games of the 2019 season. The Bears committed 13 miscues to log just a .955 team fielding percentage a year ago.

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.

With a career record of 1,283-816 (.611), Guttin now needs 17 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.

Non-Con Domination
MSU has been nearly unstoppable against non-conference competition over the last five seasons, compiling an 98-66 (.598) 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.

Road to Success
MSU has proven to be hard to stop on the road over the past five seasons, logging a 78-59 (.569) record in such contests. Including their 26-14 record in neutral-field games over the same stretch, the Bears have gone 104-73 (.588) away from Hammons Field since the start of the 2015 season. 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.

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.

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.