Starting 9
1) Missouri State begins the 2026 season under second-year head coach
Joey Hawkins this weekend with a trip to Louisiana to face the Ragin' Cajuns in a three-game series. MoState's 63rd varsity season begins at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, with the remainder of the series at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday in Lafayette. The Bears continue their season-opening seven-game road trip Tues  day with a 3 p.m. game at Oral Roberts.
2)Â MSU is looking for its 11th opening day win in its last 14 tries Friday. The Bears are 40-22 in season openers and have gone a combined 25-11 while averaging 7.4 runs per outing on opening weekend since 2014.Â
3)Â Missouri State wrapped up its 35th and final Missouri Valley Conference season in 2025 with the program's seventh regular season championship, going 30-25 overall and 17-8 in Valley games.
  The Bears ranked among the nation's best power hitting teams, finishing the 2025 campaign seventh nationally in slugging (.547) and 12th with 109 home runs, which placed 4th in the school's single season list.
4) The Bears have homered in 155 of the last 186 games, and rank 8th nationally with 422 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season, when head coach Joey   Hawkins took over as hitting coach. MoState's 109 homers last season ranked 4th in school history. The current roster has combined for 102 round-trippers in their time at MoState, and four have a 10-plus homer season at MSU.
5) Missouri State welcomes 18 newcomers into the program this season from a variety of backgrounds. Of the new players, 11 transferred from four-year schools, two were in junior college in 2025, and five are freshmen.
6)Â Senior
Taeg Gollert and junior
Caden Bogenpohl are both on pace to set Missouri State career records this season. Gollert already ranks 3rd in program history with 59 doubles, just 8 behind Brayden Drake's record of 67. Gollert's 87 career extra-base hits currently place him 14th, which is 29 (Gollert's three-year average per season) behind Jason Hart's record of 116. Bogenpohl is 10th at MoState with 108 career walks after drawing 53 and 55 (season record) his first two seasons, and is 46 behind Bill Mueller's mark of 154.
7)Â The Bears ranked 32nd nationally last season with 9.51 strikeouts per nine innings, the program's highest figure since 1969.
Tyler Charlton set the school record at 12.87 Ks/9, fanning 82 batters in 57.1 frames.
Max Knight fanned 58 in 47.2 innings, while
Michael Yusypchuk punched out 63 in 71 innings as the Bears' Friday night starter as a freshman.
8) Max Knight and
Curry Sutherland headline Missouri State's two-way threats this season. Knight, an NCBWA All-American in 2025, was the only player nationally with at least 45 innings, 45 RBIs and 55 pitching Ks.
Curry Sutherland was a regular at third base last season and fired 17 innings on the mound with 21 strikeouts and a 2.65 ERA.
9)Â Missouri State is in its first season in Conference USA in 2026 after a 35-year run in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bears went 488-347 (.584) with seven regular season championship and five tournament titles in The Valley from 1991-2025.
