Missouri State Bears (8-10) at Shocker Classic
Dates	Saturday-Sunday, March 11-12, 2023
Location & Site	Wichita, Kan. | Wilkins Stadium
Tournament Central	Shocker Classic
Game 1	Saturday, 12 p.m. vs. Nebraska | Live Stats
Game 2	Saturday, 5 p.m. at Wichita State | Watch | Live Stats
Game 3	Sunday, 12 p.m. vs. Nebraska | Live Stats
Game 4	Sunday, 2:30 p.m. at Wichita State | Watch | Live Stats
Missouri State	Game Notes (PDF) | Softball Home Page
Wichita State	Softball Home Page
Nebraska	Softball Home Page
Bears Mobile App	App Store (Apple Devices) | Google Play Store (Android Devices)
Up Next	March 14 at Southern Illinois | 2 p.m. March 15 at Southern Illinois | 12 p.m.

The Starting Lineup - Storylines for the Shocker Classic

• Missouri State is off to an 8-10 start this season. Last weekend, they went 3-2 at the Ole Miss Classic in Oxford, Miss. The Bears picked up a win over SEMO and two against Mount St. Mary's, including a ninth-inning walk-off thriller, while dropping two games to host Ole Miss. Tess Weakly helped lead the MSU offense last weekend with four total hits and three of those going for extra bases. At the Ole Miss Classic, she knocked a double and launched two home runs, with one serving as a walk-off two-run shot, as she collected four RBI and slugged .786. She leads MSU with three home runs, 23 total bases and a .561 slugging percentage this season.
• Sophomore McKenzie Vaughan was named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday (March 7) for her performance at the Ole Miss Classic. She owned a 0.40 earned run average in 17.1 innings pitched and earned her first victory of the season as she went 1-0. Vaughan allowed just one earned run on 15 hits and walked three, while striking out 17 batters. She owned a .221 opposing batting average, giving up just one extra base hit, while also recording a save, a complete game and a combined shutout on the weekend.
• Olivia Krehbiel's grand slam against SDSU (2/25) marked the third of her career, as she joined Staci Wattie and Jessica Acton as one of only three Bears in program history to accomplish the feat in their careers. She also became just the third player in program history to drive in six or more runs in a single game with six RBI versus SDSU. 
• Freshman Abby Ford (Fr., Ozark, Mo.) leads the way for the Bears offensively so far this season with a .295 batting average, 13 hits and 9 runs scored. She also leads the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks 22nd nationally with 13 stolen bases on the season. 
• Head coach Holly Hesse is in her 35th season at the helm of the Bears program. She ranks second in the MVC in overall career victories with 880 and second in MVC career victories with 379 league wins. Hesse entered the season ranked 17th among all active NCAA Division I coaches in career victories (880-847-2).
• Missouri State was picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference this season by the MVC coaches. 
• The Bears returned 11 position players and 3 pitchers from last season's squad, while welcoming five newcomers (four freshmen, one transfer). At the plate, the Bears returned two of their top four hitters from a season ago in Alex Boze and Olivia Krehbiel, who batted .325 and .282 respectively, as they both led the team with 11 home runs and 31 RBI. In the cirlce, Missouri State looks a lot different as it lost 83% of its innings pitched from a year ago, with the departures of Steffany Dickerson and Madison Hunsaker. The Bears returned three pitchers from last season's staff, while adding two new arms to the mix for 2023.
• With the retirement of long-time associate head coach Sue Frederick, the Bears welcome assistant coach, Kasey Griffth, to the tenured staff of head coach Holly Hesse and associate head coach Beth Perine. Griffith spent the last 10 years at Drake, where she served as assistant coach since the start of the 2015 season. Griffith works closely with the MSU hitters and infielders, and serves as the first base coach. 
• Missouri State finished the 2022 season with a 28-20 overall record and finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference regular season standings with an 18-7 conference ledger. The Bears went on to take home the MVC Tournament title and advanced to their seventh NCAA Tournament in program history.

Series Histories
Missouri State trails the all-time series against Nebraksa, 7-9, including a 6-8 ledger at neutral site locations. The Bears and Cornhuskers last met on April 1, 2002 with Nebraska taking home an 11-0 win. MSU's last win in the series was on April 3, 1993 in Springfield as the Bears earned a 5-3 victory. 
    MSU leads the all-time series versus Wichita State, 60-56, but is 18-30 on the road against the Shockers. The teams met last season in Springfield (3/9/22) with Missouri State winning a 9-8 slugfest that saw six combined home runs, including three homers off the bat of catcher Alex Boze, and 21 hits. Last season's victory marked the first win over the Shockers since April 19, 2017.