Missouri State

2016: Paulsen followed up a strong debut season with career-best totals for RBIs (48), hits (63), runs (41) and batting (.300) while starting 56 of the Bears' 59 games at first base to earn All-MVC honors for the second consecutive year ... Enters his final collegiate season sixth on the Bears' career putouts (1,052) chart and 11th in career fielding percentage (.987) ... Recorded a club-best 25 two-out RBIs and 15 multi-RBI games ... Hit .330 with 31 RBIs and a .471 OBP at Hammons Field ... Homered seven times and drew 41 walks, the latter of which was good for third in the MVC and tied for 11th on MSU's single-season chart ... Rated among the top 15 Valley hitters in runs, hits, RBIs, doubles (16), slugging (.495) and on-base percentage (.415) ... Reached base safely in each of MSU's first 30 contests (Feb. 19-April 8), matching the longest such streak for any Bear in 2016 ... Equaled a single-game career best with three hits on four different occasions ... Logged a 3-for-3 night that included a pair of doubles and two walks to account for a career-high four runs scored in the Bears' 15-9 win over Kansas (April 6) ... Matched a Missouri State single-game record with three doubles in a 6-1 victory at Wichita State (April 16) ... Homered, drove in three runs and scored twice at Missouri (April 26) ... Logged six multi-hit games in MSU's final 14 contests, batting .367 (18-for-49) with 12 RBIs ... Belted four of his seven home runs and drove in 16 runs in the month of May ... Hit .409 (9-for-22) with a pair of homers and five RBIs at the MVC Championship to earn all-tournament honors ... Went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs in MSU's 11-4 win over host Indiana State (May 27) and recorded hits in seven of his final 16 at-bats at the league meet.

2015: Enjoyed a banner debut season with the Bears, hitting .274 with team highs of eight home runs and 47 RBIs as a sophomore transfer ... Saw action in 60 games, including 58 starts at first base ... Named second-team All-MVC at first base after ranking sixth in the Valley in both homers and RBIs, while his 43 walks were good for fifth overall in the circuit and sixth all-time in a single season ast MSU ... Shared the MVC lead with seven sacrifice flies, which tied the season totals of three other Bears for the second-best figure in program history ... Batted .324 (22-for-68) in Valley play, while his on-base percentage (.446) was the sixth-best individual mark during league action ... Batted .329 (23-for-70) at Hammons Field ... Logged 16 multi-hit games and a team-best 13 multi-RBI outings ... Logged three-hit games on three occasions, including in MSU’s 10-1 win over UCA (Feb. 28) as part of a three-game series that saw him go 5-for-10 with four RBIs ... Drove in at least one run and registered at least one hit in five straight games, Feb. 27-March 6, hitting .529 (9-for-17) ... Homered in both ends of a doubleheader against Wright State (March 6), going 4-for-7 to help MSU earn a split ... Drove in three runs March 21 vs. Indiana State, then scored three times the following day in a 6-1 win that sealed the series win ... Had a two-hit, two-RBI game the following Sunday at Jacksonville to help lock up the road series sweep ... Produced his hottest stretch of the spring April 10-15 by recording four straight two-hit games; went 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored to open a weekend series at Evansville (April 10), then ddrove in three more runs the following day ... Drove in all three runs in MSU’s 3-0 win at Kansas (April 15) with a bases-loaded single to highlight another 2-for-2 day that included two walks ... Gashed Wichita State for seven hits in 12 at-bats during a three-game sweep, May 1-3, scoring four runs and driving in five; singled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning in the finale to secure the sweep ... Homered, doubled and drove in a pair of runs May 15 in a 9-2 victory over Bradley ... Named to the NCAA Springfield Regional all-tourney team after batting .455 (5-for-11) including a home run and three RBIs in MSU’s three-game sweep of Canisius and Iowa ... Capped his year by going 2-for-4 with an RBI in the Bears 3-2 setback in the deciding game of the Fayetteville Super Regional vs. Arkansas.

Background: Joined the Bears after a standout freshman collegiate campaign at Jefferson College that saw the St. Louis product hit .344 with seven homers and 41 runs batted-in ... Earned first-team all-metro and all-state honors as a senior at Christian Brothers College High School, where he was a teammate of fellow Bear infielder Jake Burger ... Clubbed eight homers and drove in a CBC single-season record 48 runs while batting .448 to earn second-team all-state honors from the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association and help the Cadets to a 24-9 record and a Missouri Class 5 runner-up finish in 2013.

Personal: Justin Christopher Paulsen is the son of Curtis and Barb Paulsen ... Born Jan. 3, 1995 in St. Louis, Mo. ... Majoring in recreation, sport and park administration at MSU.