96.9 The Jock ESPN Radio Springfield Missouri
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– The annual Battle for Bell baseball game between Drury and Missouri State is tonight, 6:30 p.m., at Hammons Field in Springfield. The event will also include Evangel playing Baptist Bible College in an exhibition at noon. Tickets are $5, and admission is good for both games.
Proceeds from ticket sales go directly to the local Howard Bell ALS Clinic at CoxHealth, which provides coordinated care and support to ALS patients in the region.
The ‘Battle for Bell’ helps in the fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), with a portion of ticket revenue directed to the local ALS Clinic, which provides coordinated care and support to ALS patients in the region.
The event honors the late Howard Bell and the ongoing quest to find a cure for ALS – commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Bell, who passed away from ALS in 2013, shared close connections with the Missouri State and Drury baseball programs. A three-year letterman for the Bears under current head coach Keith Guttin, Bell capped his collegiate career with a standout 1986 campaign in which he was honored as Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year after hitting .396 and helping MSU to a then-school-record 47 victories and its third straight AMCU Tournament title.
The Springfield native also spent more than a decade working on the baseball staff at Glendale High School and was an assistant under Mark Stratton, who would later become the Panthers first head baseball coach in 2005. Bell was on the staff when Drury’s current head coach, Scott Nasby, played for the Falcons, and Bell eventually took over the Glendale program as head coach when Stratton arrived at Drury.
This year’s Panthers-Bears match-up will be the seventh time the two programs have staged the ‘Battle for Bell’ game. It will mark the second year Baptist Bible and Evangel participated in the exhibition series. Last year, Missouri State won the match-up 5-1.
Gates will open at noon, and tickets are available for purchase online through CoxHealth and on gameday at Hammons Field. Tickets are $5 for adults, and children 13 and under are admitted free. All seating is general admission.
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