Missouri State Bears (16-14, 9-3 MVC) at Evansville (20-15, 5-7 MVC)
Dates	Friday, April 15 | 12:00 p.m. (Doubleheader) Saturday, April 16 | 12:00 p.m.
Location	Cooper Stadium | Evansville, Ind.
Follow	ESPN3 | Live Stats | Twitter Watch Game 1 | Watch Game 2 | Watch Game 3
Missouri State	Game Notes (PDF) | Softball Home Page | Media Guide
Evansville	Softball Home Page
Up Next	Saturday, April 23 at Loyola (DH) | 12:00 p.m. Sunday, April 24 at Loyola | 12:00 p.m.

The Starting Lineup - Storylilnes for the Evansville Series

• Missouri State begins a seven-game road trip with a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series this weekend at Evansville. Missouri State won both matchups last season in Springfield by scores of 1-0 (10) and 6-1. MSU owns a 48-29 all-time record against the Purple Aces.
• The Bears enter the weekend ranked 1st in Earned Run Average in MVC play. In 12 conference matchups, the Bears boast a 1.49 ERA. MSU has given up just 20 earned runs in 93.2 IP, while also giving up the fewsest home runs (4) in league play. 
• Dating back to the 2019 season, Missouri State has won 11 of its last 13 Missouri Valley Conference series.
• In the last two seasons, the Bears are 7-0-1 in MVC series at Killian Stadium in Springfield. Their last MVC series loss at home came back in 2019 (April 27-28) vs. Drake. 
• Missouri State is 12-2 this season when allowing 3 runs or less and 11-2 in games decided by one or two runs. 
• Steffany Dickerson (Sr., Oklahoma, City, Okla.), this week's Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week, owns a 0.93 ERA and .167 opposing batting average in MVC play, both of which lead the league. Overall, Dickerson owns a 2.09 ERA which ranks third in the MVC. Last weekend against Indiana State, Dickerson recorded a 0.00 ERA and threw two complete game shutouts. She also logged her second save of the season, whilie striking out 12 Sycamores and allowing just one walk, as Indiana State hit just .185 against her. Dickerson also recorded her 50th career win and surpassed 100 strikeouts on the season last weekend.
• MSU's 2022 schedule features 8 teams that appeared in the 2021 NCAA Tournament (Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Kennesaw State, Wichita State, UNI and Southern Illinois), four of which were ranked in the USA Softball Preseason Top 25 (#4 Oklahoma State, #9 Arkansas, #21 Arizona State and #25 Wichita State).
• Daphne Plummer (Sr., Lee's Summit, Mo.) ranks second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a .388 batting average, while she leads the league in stolen bases with 18. Plummer is just 1 run shy of scoring 100 runs in her career. She also continues to inch closer to the Missouri State all-time hits record with 223 hits in her career. The record is 252 set by All-American Barb Gaines from 1990-93. 
• Alex Boze (Sr., Swansea, Ill.) continues an impressive season at the plate for the Bears. She tops the MVC in both slugging percentage (.808) and OPS (1.261) this season. She leads the team and ranks second in The Valley with 9 home runs. Her nine homers are tied for 6th in a single season in MSU program history. 

Series History
    Missouri State leads the all-time series against Evansville, 48-29. On the road, the Bears are 20-14 versus the Purple Aces.
    MSU is currently on a two-game win streak against Evansville, winning both contests last season in Springfield by scores of 1-0 (10) and 6-1.