Baseball Bears, Golden Eagles Meet Tuesday at Hammons Field

Starting 9
1) Missouri State (11-11, 0-3 Missouri Valley Conference) wraps up four-game home stand Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. when Oral Roberts (16-9) makes the return visit to Hammons Field after the Bears won 8-5 in Tulsa on Feb. 22.

2) The Bears are 29-34 all-time against ORU after an 8-5 win in Tulsa on Feb. 22. Missouri State has won seven of the last 10 overall, however the Golden Eagles are 6-3 at Hammons Field since 2013. MoState is 66-30 in its last 96 non-conference home games.

3) The Bears have continued their slugging ways this year after ranking in the top 17 nationally in 2022 in home runs and slugging percentage with 4.03 extra base hits per game. This season, the Bears rank 45th in homers and 27th in doubles with 4.14 extra base hits per contest.

4) Missouri State freshmen outfielders Zack Stewart and Taeg Gollert have made an immediate impact this season and share the MVC lead with 10 doubles apiece. Stewart is hitting .344 with five homers and 21 RBI, while Gollert sits at .293 with four long balls and 17 driven in. Gollert’s brother Harley is a sixth-year pitcher for ORU.

5) Missouri State homered in the first 11 games this season to extend its streak to 29 consecutive games with a long ball. The Bears have now blasted a round-tripper in 17 of 22 games this year and 35 of the last 40, with 78 total in that span. MSU has also tallied three or more extra-base hits in 16 of 22 games, with eight or more on three different occasions. The Bears lead the Valley in doubles and rank third in homers and slugging.

6) The Missouri State leads the MVC in total strikeouts (224) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.2), ranking 48th nationally in the latter category. The Bears have a 4.38 ERA and .253 opponent average in the last 14 games. Brandt Thompson leads the league with 17 strikeouts looking and ranks second with 42 total. Trey Ziegenbein (47th – 6.2) and Thompson (49th – 6.0) both rank in the top 50 nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio.

7) Senior second baseman Mason Hull and sophomore outfielder Spencer Nivens earned preseason all-MVC honors this season. Hull is also a preseason third-team All-American according to Collegiate Baseball, while Nivens was named a Freshman All-American by the publication last season. Nivens hit for MSU’s first cycle since 1998 on Feb. 24 against Central Arkansas, and sits second the league with eight homers and a .719 slugging percentage.

8) MSU is 442-311 in its 33rd MVC season with six regular season titles. Since 2015, the Bears have won more combined regular season titles (3-2) and tournament championships (3-1) than the rest of the league’s current membership combined.

9) Head coach Keith Guttin ranks third among active coaches and 15th overall with 1,351 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,361) and Minnesota’s John Anderson (1,352).

Series History
The Bears are 29-34 all-time against ORU after an 8-5 win in Tulsa on Feb. 22. Missouri State has won seven of the last 10 overall, however the Golden Eagles are 6-3 at Hammons Field since 2013.

First Meeting with ORU
Missouri State topped the Golden Eagles 8-5 on Feb. 22 in Tulsa. The Bears opened the game with back-to-back homers from Nick Rodriguez and Spencer Nivens and led 7-1 after three innings. Rodriguez homered twice and Taeg Gollert’s first career homer gave MSU four round-trippers in the game.

Last Time Out
The Bears were swept at home by Evansville to begin MVC play. In Saturday’s doubleheader, the Aces hit eight home runs to win 12-7 and 7-3, the added two more on Sunday for a 7-4 victory to sweep the series despite the Bears scoring first in all three games.
    Zack Stewart batted .538 with two homers and two doubles in the series to lead the Bears.