Starting 9
1) Missouri State (20-18, 11-4 Missouri Valley Conference) hosts in-state rival Missouri (13-26, 0-18 SEC) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Hammons Field. Tuesday's game begins five-game home stand for the Bears, with Evansville coming to town April 25-27 and No. 5 Arkansas making the return trip on April 29.
    The Bears are averaging 10.5 runs in their last 19 games overall and have hit at a blistering pace all season at Hammons Field, averaging 10.9 runs per game with a .331 batting average and .624 slugging percentage while going 14-4 at home.
2) MoState is 31-35 all-time against Missouri with a 17-13 record in Springfield. The Tigers have won the last two meetings at Hammons Field and 10 of the last 12 overall, including 10-9 in Columbia on April 15.
3) The Bears have homered in 139 of the last 169 games, and rank 10th nationally with 387 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 187 round-trippers in their time at MoState, and six have a 10-plus homer season at MSU.
4) This season, Missouri State ranks 10th nationally with a .544 slugging percentage, 9th in doubles with 94 and 10th with 74 home runs.
5) Missouri State's pitching staff leads the MVC and ranks 49th nationally with 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings. The Bears' 2.15 K/BB ratio also leads the Valley and ranks 75th nationally.
  Â
Jackson Holmes,
Max Knight and
Michael Yusypchuk have earned MVC Pitcher of the Week honors this season, while
Tyler Charlton (3rd - 51), Holmes (4th - 50) and Yusypchuk (6th - 49) and are all in the top 6 in strikeouts. Knight, meanwhile, is the only Division I player with at least 15 pitching appearances and 35 RBIs.
6) Several Bears are climbing MSU career charts.
Zack Stewart is 10th on career homers (40) and 16th with 76 extra-base hits.
Taeg Gollert currently sits ninth in school history with 49 career doubles and 20th with 73 extra-base hits.
Nick Rodriguez ranks 11th in walks (99), 15th in homers (33) and 18th in extra-base hits (74).
7) Missouri State is 13-6 in its last 19 games, hitting .323 as a team with a .621 slugging percentage. Since March 21 against Bradley, the Bears have 48 homers and 52 doubles, with
Nick Rodriguez (.417, 11 doubles, 12 homers, 35 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 (482) and highest MVC winning percentage (.584) of any current league school with six regular season championships and five tournament titles in 34 seasons.
