Starting 9
1) Missouri State (19-15, 10-2 Missouri Valley Conference) heads to Columbia on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for the first round of this year's home-and-home with rival Missouri (12-23, 0-15 SEC). Round two takes place in Springfield on April 22 at 6:30 p.m.
    The Bears are averaging 12.0 runs in their last 15 games overall and are in the midst of a stretch of seven consecutive Tuesdays against Power Four competition. MSU is 2-1 so far with wins over No. 2 Arkansas and Oklahoma State and a loss at Kansas State.
    MoState visits UIC April 18-20 for a three-game series before returning home for five in a row to close out April, with Evansville (April 25-27) and No. 2 Arkansas (April 29) coming to town.
2) MoState is 31-34 all-time against Missouri with a 15-19 record in Columbia. The Tigers have won the last three meetings at Taylor Stadium and nine of the last 11 overall.
3) The Bears have homered in 135 of the last 165 games, and rank 10th nationally with 378 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season, when first-year head coach Joey    Hawkins took over as hitting coach. MoState's 114 homers last season ranked second in school and fourth in MVC history. The current roster has combined for 178 round-trippers in their time at MoState.
4) This season, Missouri State ranks 10th nationally with a .549 slugging percentage, 7th in doubles with 88 and 10th with 65 home runs.
5) Missouri State's pitching staff leads the MVC and ranks 51st nationally with 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings. The Bears' 2.31 K/BB ratio also leads the Valley and ranks 60th nationally.
Jason Schaaf leads the MVC with a 4.25 K/BB ratio.
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Jackson Holmes,
Max Knight and
Michael Yusypchuk have earned MVC Pitcher of the Week honors this season, while
Tyler Charlton (3rd - 49), Yusypchuk (4th - 46) and Holmes (8th - 44) are all in the top 10 in strikeouts. Knight, meanwhile, is the only Division I player with at least 12 pitching appearances and 35 RBIs.
6) Several Bears are climbing MSU career charts.
Zack Stewart is 10th on career homers (40) and 16th with 75 extra-base hits.
Taeg Gollert currently sits ninth in school history with 49 career doubles and 19th with 73 extra-base hits.
Nick Rodriguez ranks 11th in walks (98), 18th in homers (31) and 20th in extra-base hits (71).
7) Missouri State is 12-3 in its last 15 games, hitting .340 as a team with a .652 slugging percentage. Since March 21 against Bradley, the Bears have 39 homers and 46 doubles, with
Nick Rodriguez (.439, 10 doubles, 10 homers, 25 RBIs) leading the way with a pair of    MVC Player of the Week awards.
8) D1Baseball tabbed the Bears as the favorite to win the MVC this season, with sophomore
Caden Bogenpohl as its preseason player of the year and
Michael Yusypchuk as its freshman of the year. The MVC coaches poll was released on March 17 and also MSU to win, with Bogenpohl and
Nick Rodriguez earning all-MVC honors.
9) The 2025 season is Missouri State's 35th and final year in the MVC. The university accepted an invitation to Conference USA on May 10, 2024, and will officially join that league on July 1, 2025. The baseball Bears own the most league wins (481) and highest MVC winning percentage (.585) of any current league school with six regular season championships and five tournament titles in 34 seasons.
