Starting 9
1)Â Missouri State (3-1) completes its season-opening seven-game road trip this weekend with a series at 2022 national champion Ole Miss (5-0). The Bears and Rebels square off at 4 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Swayze Field in Oxford.
2)Â MoState is spending week two in the Magnolia State for the second consecutive season after visiting Mississippi State Feb. 21-23 last year. Though the Bears were swept in that series,
Michael Yusypchuk pitched seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts and two hits allowed in the opener. MSU is 3-2 all-time versus Ole Miss and had two wins last year against SEC competition, beating Arkansas and Missouri.
3)Â The Bears have homered in 159 of the last 190 games, including all four this season, and rank 8th nationally with 430 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 110 round-trippers in their time at MoState, four have a 10-plus homer season at MSU, and different players already have a home run this season.
4)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 61 doubles, just 6 behind Brayden Drake's record of 67. Gollert's 89 career extra-base hits currently place him 12th, which is 27 behind Jason Hart's record of 116. Bogenpohl is 9th at MoState with 112 career walks after drawing 53 and 55 (season record) his first two seasons, and is 42 behind Bill Mueller's mark of 154.
5)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.
6)Â 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.
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)Â 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.
