Racers Travel To Springfield For Conference Clash With The Bears

Date (Time): May 3-4 (3 p.m. CT (May 3), 2 p.m. CT (May 4)
Site (Venue): Springfield, Mo. (Hammons Field)
Opponent: Missouri State Bears
TV: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
All-Time Record vs. Missouri State: 3-8

The Racers are slated for the first of their last three regular-season conference weekends with the Missouri State Bears at Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri May 3-4. Friday, May 3 features a doubleheader to open the series with the finale to be played on Saturday, May 4.

First pitch for the series opener on Friday is set for 3 p.m. CT with the second game of Friday's doubleheader to start upon the conclusion of the first game. Saturday's series finale starts at 2 p.m. CT.
Murray State plays the Bears for the first time in Springfield since the 2018 season, yet this will be the first all-time meeting for a weekend series at Hammons Field between the two programs. The Bears won the regular-season series in 2023 in Murray 2-1, and ultimately ended the Racers' season in the semifinals of the 2023 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament.

Prior to 2018, the Bears and the Racers only played on four separate occasions from 1976 to 1991. The two programs have faced off seven times since 2018; four games in Murray, one game in Springfield, and two games at a neutral site (2023 MVC Baseball Tournament in Terre Haute, Indiana).

Scouting Report
The Bears enter the weekend with an 18-26 record and are 7-11 in MVC play. Missouri State is led by 42nd-year head coach Keith Guttin, who is renowned as one of the most successful baseball coaches in conference history. Since arriving to Springfield in 1983, Guttin has amassed over 1,300 wins as well as 12 40-win seasons in his coaching career.

Missouri State is led offensively by Zack Stewart, who currently leads the MVC with 18 home runs. He holds team highs with a .322 batting average, 57 runs scored, two triples, a .684 slugging percentage and has driven in 45 RBIs. Along with Stewart, Dylan Leach and Caden Bogenpohl are the only players on Missouri State's roster with double-digit home runs.

Weekly Notes
In the month of April, Jonathan Hogart slashed an exceptional .388/.761/.494 with an OPS of 1.255, scoring 19 runs with 12 extra-base hits (6 HRs, 5 2Bs, 1 3B), 22 RBIs and stealing six bases in as many attempts.

Drew Vogel, Carson Garner and Taylor Howell are tied for the team lead with 15 home runs each, as well as all three players in a tie for the ninth-most single-season home runs in program history. With the trio of Vogel, Garner and Howell, Murray State is one of five schools in NCAA Division I to have three players with at least 15 home runs this season entering the weekend.

In his last six games, Vogel has racked up seven extra-base hits, six of which were home runs, while scoring nine runs, driving in 11 RBIs and recording an OPS of 1.444 with 27 total bases.

Riley Hawthorne enters the weekend series with a 21-game reached-base streak, which is currently the longest active streak by any Racer and tied for the second-longest streak on the team this year.

Murray State ranks among the top 75 nationally in walks (45th), base hits (33rd), home runs (26th), runs scored (37th), runs per game (57th), slugging percentage (44th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (53rd) and walks allowed per nine innings (25th).

For more information on the Murray State baseball program, visit GoRacers.com or @RacersBaseball on Instagram and X.

Racers Travel To Springfield For Conference Clash With The Bears

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carson Garner

Riley Hawthorne

Jonathan Hogart

Taylor Howell

Drew Vogel

Murray State University Athletics