MVC Release

St. LOUIS – Missouri State's Drake Baldwin and Trey Ziegenbein were selected to the all-Missouri Valley Conference preseason baseball team Tuesday, and the Bears are picked to finish sixth in the league race this season according to a vote of the league's coaches.

A junior catcher from Madison, Wis., Baldwin was a second-team all-Valley pick last year after hitting .291 with four home runs and 23 RBI. He increased his average to .308 against MVC pitching with a 1.000 fielding percentage behind the plate in league contests. The left-handed hitter put together a 21-game hit streak from April 3-May 20, the sixth-longest in school history and best since 2010.

Ziegenbein, who also made the First Team in 2021, ranked second in the MVC and 21st nationally last season with 29 appearances, and ended the year fourth in the league in wins with his 8-2 record. The senior right-hander from Blue Springs, Mo., went 6-1 with a 2.22 ERA in MVC play, second-best in the league, appearing in 14 of the Bears' 24 Valley games. For the full season, he had a 3.77 ERA, 56 strikeouts and a .250 opponent average in 57.1 innings.

The Bears return seven of nine position starters and more than two-thirds of their offensive production from last season while adding 18 newcomers to the roster. Missouri State set a school record with a .978 fielding percentage last year, with MVC all-Defensive Team members Mason Hull and Grant Wood back on the infield to give the Bears four returning all-conference players.

MSU head coach Keith Guttin enters his 40th season in charge of the Bears ranked third among active Division I coaches (and 19th all-time) with 1,309 victories. Guttin trails only John Anderson of Minnesota (1,331) and Georgia Tech's Danny Hall (1,312).

Dallas Baptist is the unanimous favorite to win the league with 64 total points, while the 18-point gap between the Patriots and second-place Indiana State and less than the 14-point margin between ISU and the Bears in sixth. Illinois State and Southern Illinois tied for third, Bradley is picked fifth, and Evansville and Valparaiso occupy the bottom two spots.

The Bears are scheduled to begin the season with a three-game series at Central Arkansas Feb. 18-20 before playing the next five weekends at Hammons Field, beginning with a Feb. 25-27 series against Cal Poly.

For additional season ticket information or to place your order in person, visit the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena during normal box office hours, call (417) 836-7678 or (888) 476-7849 (toll-free). Requests may also be placed online through MissouriStateBears.com, or by calling Duane Miller at (417) 836-8899.