Courtesy: MSU Photo Services

The 2009 Missouri State baseball schedule has been completed and includes a total of 55 games as the Bears move into their sixth season at Hammons Field. The schedule features 26 home dates and 29 road games, 15 games against teams that qualified for the 2008 NCAA Tournament and a three-games series with 2006 and 2007 national champion Oregon State.

    Missouri State will be challenged early, opening the year with three games at Middle Tennessee State (Feb. 20-22), and playing in a tournament in Huntsville, Texas, the next weekend against Sam Houston State, St. Mary’s (Calif.) and twice against Nebraska.

    On March 13-15, MSU travels to Portland, Ore., for a three-game set with Oregon State. The 2009 schedule also includes a home-and-home series with Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma State, home midweek contests with Central Arkansas, Saint Louis and Arkansas-Little Rock, and a weekend series with Oral Roberts with a game in Springfield on Friday and games on ORU’s campus in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday and Sunday.  

    The Bears will have a weekend home series against North Dakota (March 6-8), two-game midweek series with South Dakota State (March 10-11) and Southeast Missouri State (March 17-18), as well as three-game series against Missouri Valley Conference foes Bradley (March 20-22), Wichita State (April 17-19), UNI (May 1-3) and Indiana State (May 15-17).  

    Missouri State’s road MVC schedule includes Southern Illinois (April 3-5), Illinois State (April 10-12), Evansville (April 24-26) and Creighton (May 8-10). The second game of the Creighton series will be played at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.    

    The Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship will be held May 20-23 in Wichita, Kan.
    
    Missouri State will begin its home season Wednesday, March 4, against Central Arkansas at 3:00 p.m. at Hammons Field. Ticket information can be obtained by calling the Missouri State athletics box office at (417) 836-7678.  

    The 2009 season will be the Bears’ 27th year in Division I and also the 27th season for Bears’ head coach Keith Guttin, who enters the year with a 904-553 career record. It’s the 19th season for Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bears were 40-17 last season.