Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (10-15, 1-5 Missouri Valley Conference) conclude a five-game home stand with a pair of midweek games at Hammons Field, taking on SEMO (14-14) at 2 p.m. Tuesday and Kansas State (18-8) at 4 p.m. Wednesday before going back on the road for a weekend MVC series at Bradley.
2) The Bears have homered in 19 of 25 games this season and 81 of the last 99, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 27th nationally with 232 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears rank 4th in the MVC with 33 home runs so far in 2024.
3) Sophomore outfielder
Zack Stewart is a two-time MVC Player of the Week award winner this season and leads the Bears with a .344 average this season. Stewart ranks fifth in the MVC in both home runs (8) and slugging percentage (.667).
4) Senior
Brandt Thompson leads the MVC with 2.45 ERA, 4.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.09 WHIP while posting a 3-0 record so far this season. Thompson also ranks among the league's top 10 in walk rate (2nd - 1.91/9 innings) and strikeouts (8th - 34). He ranks 6th in MSU history (100 inning minimum) with a career 3.47 K/BB ratio.
5) The Bears have a 1.08 ERA in the first inning this season, allowing only five runs (three earned) in 25 games.
6) MoState's schedule ranks as the 19th-most difficult nationally based on opponent winning percentage, with the Bears' opposition so far this year winning a combined 61.5 percent of its games. According to WarrenNolan.com, when game location is factored in, the Bears' strength of schedule ranks 32nd.
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 1,383 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,394). 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 71-42 against Southeast Missouri with a 41-17 home record and 13-2 mark at Hammons Field. Last season, the teams played a home-and-home series on consecutive days in mid-March, with the Bears winning 11-1 at home and 7-3 in Cape Girardeau.
The Bears are 11-18 against Kansas State with a 6-4 mark in Springfield. The Wildcats have played one game in Springfield since 1992, a 3-0 Missouri State win on April 11, 2012.
MoState and K-State played a series on March 15-17 in Manhattan, with the Wildcats winning by scores of 7-3, 12-6 and 11-3. The Bears led 3-2 in the sixth inning of Friday's game and 6-3 after six innings on Saturday before late KSU rallies each game. The Wildcats got eight shutout innings from Owen Boerema in Sunday's finale.
