96.9 The Jock ESPN Radio Springfield Missouri
| Missouri State vs. UIC | |
| Location | Springfield, Mo. |
| Site | Hammons Field |
| Game 1 | Thursday, April 11, 11 a.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats | | Listen Future Bears Day (Kids Free)/$3 Adult Tickets |
| Game 2 | Friday, April 12, 11 a.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats | | Listen Future Bears Day (Kids Free)/$3 Adult Tickets |
| Game 3 | Saturday, April 13, 11 a.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats | | Listen Family Day |
| Program | Roster Card |
| Missouri State | Game Notes Baseball Home Page |
| UIC | Baseball Home Page |
Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (14-17, 3-6 Missouri Valley Conference) are back home for a three-game series with UIC (20-10, 5-4), with a trio 11 a.m. games during a Thursday-Saturday series as MSU will share Hammons Field this weekend with the Springfield Cardinals.
2) The Bears have homered in 24 of 31 games this season and 86 of the last 105, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 20th nationally with 246 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears rank 2nd in the MVC with 47 home runs so far in 2024.
3) Sophomore outfielder Zack Stewart is a two-time MVC Player of the Week award winner this season and is hitting .322 this season with 22 career home runs in 84 games. Stewart ranks fourth in the MVC in home runs (10) and fifth in slugging percentage (.644) and total bases (76).
4) Senior Brandt Thompson leads the MVC with 2.03 ERA, 5.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.00 WHIP while posting a 4-0 record so far this season. Thompson also ranks among the league’s top 10 in walk rate (2nd – 1.8/9 innings) and strikeouts (9th – 40). He ranks 6th in MSU history (100 inning minimum) with a career 3.54 K/BB ratio. In MVC games, Thompson is 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA and .167 opponent average in 19 innings.
5) Senior catcher Dylan Leach is hitting .400 (34-for-85) and slugging .800 with eight home runs and 22 RBI since March 1. For the full season, Leach ranks fourth in the MVC with a .673 slugging percentage, seventh in homers (9) and eighth with .452 on-base percentage.
6) The Bears have a 1.45 ERA in the first inning this season, allowing only nine runs (five earned) in 31 games.
7) MoState’s schedule ranks as the 74th-most difficult nationally based on opponent winning percentage, with the Bears’ opposition so far this year winning a combined 54.9 percent of its games.
8) 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. MoState is currenty 11-12 on the road this year.
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 1,387 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,397). 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 13-2 all-time against UIC with a 4-0 record in Springfield. All four home contests took place in a non-conference series in 1991, a year after the teams were no longer Mid-Continent Conference rivals.
Last season’s meetings resumed the series after a 32-year hiatus, with the Bears sweeping the Flames in Chicago and winning 5-0 in the MVC Tournament in Terre Haute, Ind.
