Bears Visit Columbia Tuesday for Round Two with Tigers

Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (17-21, 6-9 Missouri Valley Conference) make the return trip to Columbia this week for the second meeting with in-state rival Missouri (18-23, 6-12 SEC) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Tigers took the first matchup by a 6-2 final on April 16 in Springfield.

2) The Bears have homered in 31 of 38 games this season and 93 of the last 112, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 15th nationally with 267 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears lead the MVC and rank 24th nationally with 68 homers this year, with Zack Stewart (16 – 1st), Caden Bogenpohl (14 – 3rd) and Dylan Leach (11 – 9th) all in the top 10 of the MVC’s individual rankings.

3) Sophomore outfielder Zack Stewart is a two-time MVC Player of the Week award winner this season and is hitting .331 while leading the MVC in home runs (16) and total bases (108) and ranking 2nd in slugging (.710). Stewart has 28 career homers in 91 games as a Bear.

4) Senior Brandt Thompson leads the MVC with a 6.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 0.99 WHIP and 1.55 BB/9 ratio, ranks second with a 2.41 ERA and five wins, and sits 5th with 55 strikeouts. He sits 3rd in MSU history (100 inning minimum) with a career 3.86 K/BB ratio and 13th with a 3.05 ERA, while his 6.11 K/BB this season is on pace to break the current school record of 5.84 set by pitching coach Nick Petree in 2013. In MVC games, Thompson is 3-0 with a 2.01 ERA and .193 opponent average.

5) Senior catcher Dylan Leach is hitting .348  and slugging .714 with 10 home runs and 26 RBI since March 1. For the year, Leach ranks 9th in the MVC with a .630 slugging percentage and 11 homers.

6) Freshman Caden Bogenpohl ranks second nationally among freshmen with 14 home runs, trailing only Georgia Tech’s Drew Burress (17). Among MSU rookies all time, only Ryan Howard (19 in 1999) and Jason Hart (15 – 1996) have more home runs.

7) The Bears have a 2.61 ERA in the first inning this season, allowing only 15 runs (11 earned) in 38 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 13-13 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 1,390 career wins. Among active skippers, Guttin trails only Danny Hall of Georgia Tech (1,401). 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
MoState is 31-33 all-time against Mizzou with a 14-19 record in Columbia. The Bears are just 1-4 in their last five trips to Columbia, though the one victory –  7-5 in 2021 – represented career win No. 1,300 for head coach Keith Guttin.
    In this season’s first meeting on April 16 in Springfield, the Tigers led 4-0 after two innings on the way to a 6-2 victory.