Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (19-28, 8-13 Missouri Valley Conference) embark on their final road trip of the regular season Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game at Southeast Missouri (25-23, 13-8 Ohio Valley). The Bears topped the Redhawks 10-3 on April 2 in Springfield and knocked seven extra-base hits in the win.
2) The Bears have homered in 39 of 47 games this season and 101 of the last 121, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 11th nationally with 291 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears lead the MVC and rank 12th nationally with 92 homers this year, which is the No. 5 season total in school history.
Zack Stewart (19 - 1st),
Caden Bogenpohl (16 - 5th) and
Dylan Leach (14 - 10th) all rank in the top 10 in the MVC.
Taeg Gollert,
Cody Kelly and
Nick Rodriguez all have 9 bombs, giving MSU a chance at 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 .307 while leading the MVC in home runs (19) and ranking 4th in total bases (125) and 7th in slugging (.661). Stewart ranks 17th at MSU in career homers, and hit 2024 total is tied for 13th on the season list.
4) Senior
Brandt Thompson owns a 3.14 ERA and .206 opponent average in MVC play. Overall, he is among the Valley leaders in ERA (3rd - 3.09), K/BB (2nd - 4.31), WHIP (1st - 1.09) and BB/9 (4th - 2.25). He sits 6th in MSU history (100 inning minimum) with a career 3.56 K/BB ratio, while his 4.31 K/BB this year is on pace to finish 8th on the single-season chart.
5) Senior catcher
Dylan Leach is hitting .338 and slugging .704 with 13 home runs and 37 RBI since March 1. For the year, Leach ranks 10th in the MVC with 14 homers and 10th with a .633 slugging percentage.
6) Caden Bogenpohl ranks third nationally among freshmen with 40 walks and fourth with 16 home runs. Georgia Tech's Drew Burress holds the home lead with 20. Among MSU rookies all time, only Ryan Howard (19 in 1999) had more home runs, while only
Spencer Nivens (44 in 2022) drew more walks.
7) Nick Rodriguez (.516) and
Cody Kelly (.514) rank 1-2 in the MVC in OBP in conference games. Rodriguez has reached safely in 28 consecutive games and 45 of 47 overall this year, and also boasts a .405 average in 21 MVC contests. Meanwhile, Kelly has a .413/.957/.585 slash line with seven homers and 22 RBI since April 11.
8) The Bears have played 32 true road games this season with 36 on the regular season schedule, which would eclipse the record of 33 set in 2003, which included six in postseason play on the way to the CWS.
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 1,392 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,406). 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
The Bears are 72-42 against Southeast Missouri with a 30-25 record in Cape Girardeau. Missouri State won the last meeting at Capaha Field, 7-3 on March 15, 2023, and was also victorious by a 10-3 final in Springfield on April 2 of season.
In that April 2 game,
Caden Bogenpohl,
Zack Stewart and
Taeg Gollert all hit solo home runs in the first inning, and the Bears slugged seven total extra-base hits.
