Baseball Back in Hoosier State for Series at Evansville

Starting 9
1) The Missouri State Bears (17-22, 6-9 Missouri Valley Conference) continue their nine-game road trip this weekend with a three-game series at Evansville (22-18, 10-5). Game times are 6 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

2) The Bears have homered in 32 of 39 games this season and 94 of the last 113, including streaks of 29 and 21 games, and rank 15th nationally with 268 long balls since the beginning of the 2022 season. The Bears lead the MVC and rank 26th nationally with 69 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 .333 while leading the MVC in home runs (16) and total bases (110) and ranking 2nd in slugging (.705). Stewart has 28 career homers in 93 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 .339 and slugging .696 with 10 home runs and 26 RBI since March 1. For the year, Leach ranks 9th in the MVC with 11 homers and 12th with a .617 slugging percentage.

6) Freshman Caden Bogenpohl ranks fourth nationally among freshmen with 14 home runs. Georgia Tech’s Drew Burress holds the lead with 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 2.54 ERA in the first inning this season, allowing only 15 runs (11 earned) in 39 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 13-14 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 (1,403). 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 62-50 all-time against Evansville with a 27-20 road record in the series. In fact, the Bears have a better winning percentage against the Purple Aces in Evansville than they do in either home or neutral venues, and last visited Braun Stadium in 2021, when they took three of four games.
    Evansville has won seven of the last eight meetings, sweeping regular season series the last two years with a 1-1 record between the teams in MVC Tournaments.