Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (19-29, 8-13 Missouri Valley Conference) play their penultimate conference series of the season when they visit Belmont (22-26, 9-12) for a three-game set in Nashville. Game times are 4 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
2) The Bears have homered in 40 of 48 games this season and 102 of the last 122, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 11th nationally with 293 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears lead the MVC and rank 13th nationally with 94 homers this year, which is the No. 5 season total in school history.
Zack Stewart (19 - 1st),
Caden Bogenpohl (16 - 6th) and
Dylan Leach (14 - 10th) all rank in the top 10 in the MVC.
Cody Kelly (11),
Taeg Gollert (9) and
Nick Rodriguez (9) give 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 .301 while leading the MVC in home runs (19) and ranking 4th in total bases (125) and 8th in slugging (.648). 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), BAA (2nd - .223), 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 .329 and slugging .685 with 13 home runs and 37 RBI since March 1. For the year, Leach ranks 10th in the MVC with 14 homers and 11th with a .618 slugging percentage.
6) Caden Bogenpohl ranks 4th nationally among freshmen with 16 home runs and 41 walks. Georgia Tech's Drew Burress leads in both categories with 21 and 43, respectively. 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 29 consecutive games and 46 of 48 overall this year, and also boasts a .405 average in 21 MVC contests. Meanwhile, Kelly has a .429/1.061/.594 slash line with nine homers and 24 RBI since April 11.
8) The Bears have played 33 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 4-1 all-time against Belmont and swept the Bruins in Springfield last season in the first league series between the schools. MoState is 1-1 in Nashville, winning 7-5 in 2017 and losing 1-0 in 2020.
