Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (23-32, 11-16 Missouri Valley Conference) head to the MVC Baseball Championship in Evansville this week as the No. 8 seed and begin play at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday against fifth-seeded UIC (33-18, 16-11). MSU is 63-53 all-time in the MVC Tournament with titles in 1996, 1997, 2015, 2018 and 2022.
2) The Bears have homered in 46 of 55 games this season and 108 of the last 129, and rank 11th nationally with 309 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears are tops in the Valley and 10th nationally with 110 homers this year, which ties the No. 2 season total in school history with the 2022 squad.
Zack Stewart (21 - 2nd),
Caden Bogenpohl (19 - 6th) and
Dylan Leach (16 - 10th) all rank in the top 10 in the MVC.
Cody Kelly (12),
Nick Rodriguez (12) and
Taeg Gollert (10) give MSU six in double figures for the second time in school history, joining the 1999 club that led the nation with 144 dingers.
3) Sophomore outfielder
Zack Stewart is a two-time MVC Player of the Week award winner this season and is hitting .305 while ranking 2nd in the MVC in home runs (21), 5th in total bases (142) and 8th in slugging (.645). Stewart ranks 15th at MSU in career homers (33), and his 2024 total is tied for 10th on the season list.
4) Brandt Thompson (3.64) is 2nd in MVC in ERA overall, and
Jason Schaaf is 12th (4.58) in MVC games. Thompson leads the league in WHIP (1.14) and is 2nd in K/BB ratio (4.00). He sits 6th in MSU history (100 inning minimum) with a career 3.47 K/BB ratio, while this year's figure is on pace to finish 11th on the single-season chart. Schaaf threw a complete-game shutout on May 12 at Belmont without allowing a runner beyond first base.
5) Senior catcher
Dylan Leach is hitting .341 and slugging .701 with 15 home runs and 41 RBI since March 1. For the full year, Leach ranks 10th in the MVC with 16 homers and 9th with a .639 slugging percentage.
6) Caden Bogenpohl ranks 3rd nationally among freshmen with 19 home runs and 49 walks. Georgia Tech's Drew Burress leads in both categories with 22 and 52, respectively. Among MSU rookies all time, his 49 walks are the most (and 3rd overall) while his home run is tied with Ryan Howard (19 in 1999).
7) Nick Rodriguez (.500) and
Cody Kelly (.465) rank 2-5 in OBP in MVC games. Rodriguez has reached safely in 36 consecutive games and 53 of 55 overall this year, and also boasts a .410 average in MVC contests. Meanwhile, Kelly is slashing .346/.795/.514 with 10 homers and 26 RBI since April 11 while reaching in 24 straight.
8) The Bears hit .300 and slugged .571 with 67 home runs in 24 MVC games. MoState out-scored the opposition in their last seven league series, scoring 25+ runs in each with at least one double-digit game.
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 1,396 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,409). 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.
MVC Tournament History
Missouri State is 63-53 all-time at the MVC Tournament with titles coming in 1996, 1997, 2015, 2018 and 2022. The Bears have won at least one tournament game in 26 of their last 27 appearances, the exception an opening round loss to Valparaiso in 2021. MSU has not gone 0-2 at the event since 1994.
    The Bears have won seven tournament games the last two seasons, going 5-1 in their 2022 championship run and 2-2 in 2023.
    In the first and only other MVC Tournament in Evansville in 1998, the Bears went 2-2 but scored 47 runs. MSU beat Illinois State 12-11 and Indiana State 16-6, then fell 19-9 to Wichita State and 11-10 to the host Purple Aces.
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