Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (15-20, 4-8 Missouri Valley Conference) begin a nine-game road swing this weekend with a three-game series at Valparaiso (11-23, 3-9). In 12 conference games, the Bears are hitting .290 and slugging .544 with seven lineup regulars batting .318 or better.
2) The Bears have homered in 28 of 35 games this season and 90 of the last 109, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 16th nationally with 261 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears lead the MVC and rank 23rd nationally with 62 homers this year, with
Zack Stewart (14 - 1st),
Caden Bogenpohl (13 - 4th) and
Dylan Leach (11 - 7th) all in the top 10 of the MVC's individual rankings.
3) Sophomore outfielder
Zack Stewart is a two-time MVC Player of the Week award winner this season and is hitting .341 while leading the MVC in home runs (14) and slugging (.726) and ranking 2nd in total bases (98). Stewart has 26 career homers in 88 games as a Bear.
4) Senior
Brandt Thompson leads the MVC with 2.35 ERA, 5-0 record, 5.88 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 1.02 WHIP and 1.57 BB/9 ratio. Thompson also ranks 8th in the league with 47 strikeouts. He sits 5th in MSU history (100 inning minimum) with a career 3.74 K/BB ratio, while his 5.88 K/BB this season is on pace to break the current school record of 5.84 set by pitching coach
Nick Petree in 2013. In MVC games, Thompson is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA and .198 opponent average.
5) Senior catcher
Dylan Leach is hitting .374 (37-for-99) and slugging .768 with 10 home runs and 26 RBI since March 1. For the year, Leach ranks 8th in the MVC with a .664 slugging percentage and 7th with 11 homers.
6) Freshman
Caden Bogenpohl ranks second nationally among freshmen with 13 home runs, trailing only Georgia Tech's Drew Burress (16). Among MSU rookies all time, only Ryan Howard (19 in 1999) and Jason Hart (15 - 1996) have more home runs.
7) The Bears have a 2.83 ERA in the first inning this season, allowing only 15 runs (11 earned) in 35 games.
8) 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. MoState is currenty 11-12 on the road this year.
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 1,388 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,400). 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 History
MoState is 19-1 all-time against Valpo, the lone loss in extra innings in the 2021 MVC Tournament. The Bears have swept the Beacons in all five league series since VU joined the league for the 2018 season, are 1-1 in MVC Tournaments, and 2-0 in the Mid-Continent Conference tourney in the 1980s.
    Missouri State is 6-0 against the Beacons in Valparaiso, with series sweeps in 2018 and 2022.
