Catching up on Missouri State baseball ahead of MVC opener
Missouri State right fielder Zack Stewart throws the ball as the Bears take on the Bradley Braves last season at Hammons Field. The sophomore is batting .362 with eight home runs this season.
Missouri State baseball has hit a bit of a rough patch heading into the beginning of Missouri Valley Conference play, in which the Bears will play the reigning champion that was picked to win the league.
The Bears have lost their last five games after starting the season 9-5. The losses came during an important stretch in their non-conference schedule against teams that could have built their resume if they were in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season.
Recent losses include a 13-4 defeat at Oklahoma State, a three-game sweep at Kansas State and a loss at Saint Louis.
The Bears went from a team ranked No. 1 in the RPI across college baseball early in the season to 50th. Only two teams ahead of them have losing records.
What started as a promising season could go south quickly when MSU travels to play Indiana State (15-4) for a threegame series starting Friday at 2 p.m. The Sycamores are coming off an NCAA Tournament Super Regional appearance and have won eight of their last nine games entering the weekend.
Missouri State baseball’s pitching, defensive issues remain
The Bears carried leads into later innings in their first two games against Kansas State and couldn’t hold on in either. There are still some problems defensively that need fixing quickly.
Missouri State has been getting good starts out of Friday starter Brandt Thompson who has a 2-0 record in six appearances, 21 innings pitched and