96.9 The Jock ESPN Radio Springfield Missouri
| Missouri State vs. Illinois State | |
| Location | Springfield, Mo. |
| Site | Hammons Field |
| Game 1 | Friday, March 29, 6:30 p.m. Live Stats | | Listen Beach theme/Shirt giveaway |
| Game 2 | Saturday, March 30, 2 p.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats | Listen |
| Game 3 | Sunday, March 31, 1 p.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats | Listen Postgame Easter egg hunt |
| Program | Roster Card |
| Missouri State | Game Notes Baseball Home Page |
| Illinois State | Baseball Home Page |
Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (10-12, 1-2 Missouri Valley Conference) play at Hammons Field for the first time since March 3 this weekend when Illinois State (11-11, 1-2) comes to town for a three-game Valley series. The Bears have five home games in six days, with midweeks against SEMO (April 2) and Kansas State (April 3) on deck.
2) The Bears have homered in 17 of 22 games this season and 79 of the last 96, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 23rd nationally with 228 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears rank 4th in the MVC with 29 home runs so far in 2024.
3) Sophomore outfielder Zack Stewart is a two-time MVC Player of the Week award winner this season. Stewart ranks second in the MVC in homers (8) and slugging percentage (.727), sitting 79th and 83rd, respectively, in those categories. In his last 17 games, Stewart is batting .359 (23-for-64) and slugging .781.
4) Missouri State ranks fourth in the MVC with a .260 opponent average, with Brandt Thompson leading the charge among qualifying pitchers at .255. Thompson also ranks second in the MVC with a 2.42 ERA and 4.83 strikeout-to-walk ratio, both in the top 81 nationally. As a team, the Bears have a 1.23 ERA and .192 BAA in the first inning, and 0.82 ERA and .135 BAA in the ninth this year. The MSU bullpen has a .242 opponent average.
5) Missouri State is 461-325 with six regular season titles in its 33rd Missouri Valley Conference season. Since 2015, the Bears have won the same number of regular season titles (3-3) and more tournament championships (3-2) than the rest of the league’s current membership combined. MSU is picked to finish second in the MVC this year with Garrett Ferguson, Taeg Gollert, Zack Stewart and Brandt Thompson earning preseason all-Valley honors.
6) MoState’s schedule ranks as the 19th-most difficult nationally based on opponent winning percentage, with the Bears’ opposition so far this year winning a combined 61.5 percent of its games. According to WarrenNolan.com, when game location is factored in, the Bears’ strength of schedule ranks 11th.
7) The Bears have 36 road games on the schedule in 2024, which would be a school record. Missouri State’s highest total of true road games came in 2003 with 33, which included six in postseason play on the way to the CWS.
8) Three Division I All-Americans dot the 2024 Missouri State roster. Stewart and Ferguson each made multiple Freshman All-America teams in 2023, while junior captain Nick Rodriguez was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American following his rookie season at Charleston Southern in 2022.
9) Head coach Keith Guttin announced in November his plans to retire after the 2024 season, his 42nd in charge of the Bears. He ranks second among active coaches and 12th overall with 1,383 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,394). Guttin also played for the Bears in 1976 and 1977 and served as an assistant coach from 1979-81, making this his 47th season with the program.
Series History
The Bears are 68-50 all-time against Illinois State with a 36-19 mark in Springfield and 23-8 record at Hammons Field. MoState has won six of the seven meetings in Springfield since 2018. The first two meetings in the series took place in June 1969 at Meader Park in Springfield, with ISU winning both to claim the NCAA Division II World Series championship.
