| Missouri State at Central Arkansas/Saint Louis |
Central Arkansas
Game 1 |
Saturday, March 9, 2 p.m.
Bear Stadium
Conway, Ark.
Live Stats | Listen |
Central Arkansas
Game 2 |
Sun., March 10, 12 p.m. (DH)
Bear Stadium
Conway, Ark.
Live Stats | Watch | Listen |
Central Arkansas
Game 3 |
Sun., March 10, 3:30 p.m. (DH)
Bear Stadium
Conway, Ark.
Live Stats | Watch | Listen |
| Saint Louis |
March 12, 3 p.m.
Billiken Sports Center
St. Louis, Mo.
Live Stats | Listen |
| Missouri State |
Game Notes
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| Central Arkansas |
Baseball Home Page |
| Saint Louis |
Baseball Home Page |
Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (6-5) begin an 11-game road trip this weekend at Central Arkansas (7-7), starting what will be their longest in-season stretch away from home since beginning the 2020 season with 12 consecutive games away from Springfield. The battle of the maroon Bears and purple Bears takes place at 2 p.m. Saturday with a 12 p.m. DH on Sunday. Missouri State then heads to St. Louis on Tuesday, March 12 for a 3 p.m. game with the Billikens (11-1).
2) The Bears have homered in 71 of the last 84 games, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 17th nationally with 217 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears lead the MVC and rank 46th nationally with 18 home runs so far in 2024.
3) Sophomore outfielder
Zack Stewart has won consecutive MVC Player of the Week awards, the first Bear to do that since Jeremy Eierman (last award of 2016, first of 2017). Stewart leads the MVC in slugging percentage (.909) and total bases (40), ranks second in home runs (6) and third in average (.409). In the last eight games, Stewart is batting .452 (14-for-31) and slugging 1.097.
4) Missouri State has not allowed a run in the first inning this season and the pitching staff's .230 opponent average is on pace to rank fourth in school history behind the 1969 and 1970 NCAA Division II World Series clubs and the 2015 squad, which earned the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
5) The bullpen has a 3.17 ERA and .200 opposing average, and those numbers are even better innings 6-9 with a 2.25 ERA (10 ERA in 40 IP) and .181 BAA (26-for-144).
6) Missouri State is picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference this season by the league's coaches, with
Garrett Ferguson,
Taeg Gollert,
Zack Stewart and
Brandt Thompson earning preseason all-Valley honors. Indiana State is picked to repeat as league champs, with Evansville, the Bears and Murray State rounding out the top four. D1Baseball tabbed Stewart as its preseason MVC Player of the Year, Thompson as the Pitcher of the Year and
Caden Bogenpohl as the Freshman of the Year.
7) The Bears have 36 road games on the schedule in 2024, which would be a school record. Missouri State's highest total of true road games came in 2003 with 33, which included six in postseason play on the way to the CWS
8) Three Division I All-Americans dot the 2024 Missouri State roster. Stewart and Ferguson each made multiple Freshman All-America teams in 2023, while junior captain
Nick Rodriguez was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American following his rookie season at Charleston Southern in 2022.
9) Head coach
Keith Guttin announced in November his plans to retire after the 2024 season, his 42nd in charge of the Bears. He ranks second among active coaches and 12th overall with 1,379 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,385). Guttin also played for the Bears in 1976 and 1977 and served as an assistant coach from 1979-81, making this his 47th season with the program.
Series Histories
The Bears are 27-9 all-time against Central Arkansas with a 13-6 record in Conway in a series that began in 2008. The Bears have scored 49 runs in their last four games in Conway, winning three of those.
    Missouri State is 50-12 against the Billikens with a 16-8 record in St. Louis. The teams haven't played at Billiken Sports Complex since 2017, a 15-8 MoState victory.
