Starting 9
1) Missouri State (10-5) begins a four-game road week with a visit to in-state rival Southeast Missouri State (10-7) on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Cape Girardeau.
2) The Bears have homered in 169 of the last 201 games, including 14 of 15 this season, and rank 8th nationally with 453 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season, when head coach
Joey Hawkins took over as hitting coach. Mo State leads Conference USA and ranks 8th nationally this year with 31 homers. The current roster has combined for 133 round-trippers in their time at Mo State and four have a 10-plus homer season for the Bears.
3) According to TruMedia, Missouri State hitters rank 3rd nationally in hard hit % with 51.8 percent of batted balls at 95 mph or better, and rank 6th with an average exit velocity on batted balls of 91.3 mph. The Bears are the highest-rated non-Power Four school in both categories.
4) Junior
Caden Bogenpohl ranks 1st nationally with 25 walks this season after drawing 53 and 55 (season record) his first two years. His 133 career free passes are 2nd in school history, 21 behind Bill Mueller's mark of 154. Bogenpohl also ranks tied for 14th at Mo State with 36 career home runs. Bogenpohl ranks 5th among active Division I players in career walks and 25th in home runs.
5) Senior
Taeg Gollert is the NCAA active career leader (all divisions) with 63 doubles and has a pair of Missouri State program records in his sights. His doubles total ranks 2nd in program history, just 4 behind Brayden Drake's record of 67, and his 92 career extra-base hits currently place him 11th, which is 24 behind Jason Hart's record of 116. Gollert also ranks 16th among active Division I players with 207 hits and 30th with 142 RBIs.
6) Missouri State is 26-7 at home under
Joey Hawkins and boasts a .329 batting average and .625 slugging percentage with 78 total home runs and a 10.1 scoring average in those 33 games.
7) 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.
  Mo State averages 9.3 Ks/9 this season, including a 17-strikeout performance on March 3 at Oklahoma State, just two shy of the school single-game record.
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) 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.
