MISSOURI STATE @ DALLAS BAPTIST   
May 2-4 | Dallas, Texas | Horner Ballpark
                                                        
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
DBU Audio: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Livestats: DBU Livestats
Facebook: DBU Athletics
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Dates: May 2-4                              
Time: 6:30 PM (Fri.), 2 PM (Sat.) 1 PM (Sun.)                                          
Stadium: Horner Ballpark (2,000)                                      
Broadcast: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Talent: Reagan Ratcliff and Brendan Smith
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
 
Friday, May 2
MSU – RHP Cody Schumacher (5-1, 2.22 ERA, 52.2 IP, 18 BB, 49 K)
vs.
DBU – RHP Cy Sneed (7-2, 3.52 ERA, 71.2 IP, 25 BB, 57 K)
 
Saturday, May 3
MSU – RHP Jon Harris (2-4, 3.23 ERA, 55.2 IP, 19 BB, 46 K)
vs.
DBU – RHP Paul Voelker (6-4, 3.58 ERA, 65.1 IP, 26 BB, 63 K)
 
Sunday, May 4
MSU – RHP Clay Murphy (3-3, 3.29 ERA, 52 IP, 18 BB, 58 K)
vs.
DBU – RHP Cory Taylor (3-3, 3.43 ERA, 63 IP, 31 BB, 68 K)
 
FIRST PITCH – The Dallas Baptist Baseball Team opens a four-game home stand beginning this weekend with Missouri Valley Conference opponent, Missouri State University.  The Patriots and Bears met earlier this year, March 14-15, in a three-game set in Springfield, Missouri, with Dallas Baptist sweeping the series with three-straight shutouts.   
 
DBU (29-15, 7-5) finished April with a victory on Tuesday, 9-1, over Oklahoma to post a winning record on the month at 9-8.  The win over the Sooners marked the Patriots' seventh straight win over Oklahoma since 2011. 

After winning the first five MVC affairs in school history, the Patriots have gone 2-5 in the last seven match-ups. This includes back-to-back conference series losses to Evansville and Indiana State.
 
The lone MVC series to be held at Horner Ballpark, featured the top team in the standings, University of Evansville. After dropping the first two games of that weekend series, the Patriots were able to salvage the finale.
 
The club has gone 5-5 in its last five contests at home, but still holds a 15-6 record at the friendly confines of Horner Ballpark.  Eight of the final 11 contests on the 2014 schedule are slated as home dates.
 
LAST TIME ON THE DIAMOND – Making his first start of the year, sophomore, Joseph Shaw, shutdown a potent Oklahoma offense while completing a career-high six innings as DBU rolled to a 9-1 decision Tuesday night.  Tuesday's start was just the second of Shaw's young career, as his previous start came on March 6, 2013, versus Texas Southern.
 
The right-hander from Ennis, Texas, showed no problems of transitioning from his regular duties in the bullpen, as he fired six innings of one-hit, shutout ball.  Shaw retired the first 13 batters he faced, before giving up a hit with one out in the bottom of the fifth. 
 
The Sooners committed three errors on the night, none maybe more costly than OU starting pitcher, Kindle Ladd's, miscue in the first.  Sophomore, Daniel Salters, reached with two outs on a dropped ball at first by Ladd, extending the inning and allowing Austin Listi to deliver his team-leading seventh home run of the campaign.
 
Another pair of runs in the third doubled DBU's lead and would chase the Sooner's starter after three frames.  Shaw had more than enough support to keep the home club at bay, as the flame-throwing righty retired the first 13 OU batters he faced.  On the night, Shaw surrendered just one hit and struck out three in his dominant outing.
 
After the Patriots tacked on two more in the eighth, redshirt senior, Josh Urban, surrendered an unearned run that snapped the bullpen's season-long, scoreless streak at 20.2 innings. DBU relievers had not allowed a run in five consecutive games.  Despite the unearned run, the Patriot pen has gone six straight games without surrendering an earned run, dating back to April 19.

A three-run ninth capped off the scoring for DBU, giving Sean Stutzman and Drew Smith plenty of insurance to work a scoreless ninth.

The programs meet again at Horner Ballpark in two weeks on May 13.   
                                                                     
PLAYERS TO WATCH – Senior, Mike Wesolowski, paces the Patriots with a team-best, .299 batting average, 52 hits, and is second with 39 runs scored.  The native of Mesa, Arizona, is also tied for second on the club with 10 doubles and tied for third in homers with four.  He's also one of three players that are in double figures for hit by pitches, accumulating 17.
 
Listi produced one of his best offensive performances of the season, collecting a career-high four hits in five at-bats.  The sophomore matched a season-best in runs scored with four, the second time he has notched the feat on the campaign.  Those totals lifted Listi to first on the squad with 42 runs scored.  He remains in close pursuit of Wesolowski for tops on the team in hits with 48 on the season.  The sophomore center fielder added a pair of RBI with his two-run blast in the first inning Tuesday to run his RBI total to 30.  He's batting .395 in the last ten, which includes an active team-high, seven-game hitting streak.  The native of Huffman, Texas, has also tallied hits in 16 of the past 21 affairs.
 
Also posting multi-hit evenings in the last contest were redshirt sophomore, Justin Wall, and junior, Nash Knight.  Wall brought in a game-high three RBI and scored once.  The redshirt-sophomore outfielder sits second on the team with 32 runs driven in.  Knight recorded his 10th multi-hit game of 2014.  The third baseman added an RBI to increase his overall to 24 and currently ranks second on the team with 31 free passes.
 
David Martinelli is batting .279 entering the weekend and added his 25th RBI, following a 1-for-3 showing at Oklahoma.  The freshman scored twice and is now one of four players to cross the plate at least 30 times this year.  The Waxahachie, Texas, native is in the midst of a three-game hitting streak and has totaled base knocks in eight of the club's 12 MVC match-ups, including a career-high, five hit display at Bradley University on March 30.
 
Splitting time at catcher and designated hitter, Daniel Salters leads the club with 38 RBI, doubles with 14, triples with five, total bases with 80, and walks with 32.  His .476 slugging percentage also ranks tops on the club.
                               
ON THE BUMP – Through 396.1 innings, the Dallas Baptist pitching staff has allowed 193 runs (155 earned) while walking 175 and punching out 376.  The Patriots have compiled a 3.52 ERA which ranks fourth in the MVC, and their total strikeouts place them in second behind Illinois State.
 
For the first time in 2014, the Patriots' weeked rotation will have a different look.  After junior, Paul Voelker, held down the Friday night role through his first 11 starts this year, Cy Sneed will toe the rubber in Friday's opener versus Missouri State.
 
Sneed earns the nod after posting a team-best seven wins, a number that is tied for second most in the conference.  Through 71.2 innings this year, the product of Twin Falls, Idaha, ranks second among DBU starters with a 3.52 ERA.  The righty has been durable, throwing at least six innings in 10 of 12 appearances, including a string of eight in a row.  Sneed failed to eclipse the mark in his last start on Saturday at Indiana State which was a season-low 5.1 innings.
 
Voelker will be flipped to Saturday, and is hoping to end a personal two-game losing streak against a team that the right-hander stymied earlier this year.  On March 14, the junior baffled Missouri State hitters, notching a season-high eight innings and matching lows on hits and runs allowed with two and  none, respectively.  The native of Plymouth, Minnesota, was one shy of his career-high nine strikeouts set earlier in the year versus Penn on February 28 at Horner Ballpark.
 
In the series finale on Sunday, sophomore, Cory Taylor, takes the ball for his 11th start of the season.  Taylor leads the rotation with a 3.43 ERA and continues to pace the entire club with strikeouts, posting 68.  The righty from Owasso, Oklahoma, was part of the trio of impressive pitching performance at Missouri State, earlier this year when he fanned a career-high 11 batters through seven innings.  The feat helped Taylor earn Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week.
 
Sophomore, Brandon Koch, remains spectacular with an ERA south of 1.00 out of the pen.  His 0.67 clip is the lowest on the squad, and his 48 strikeouts are them most amongst all Partriot relievers.  The native of Plano, Texas, has a team-high six saves, with the latest coming in the lone win of the series last weekend at Indiana State.  The righty has worked 12 consecutive innings without surrendering a run.  Prior to his last run allowed back on March 22 versus Utah Valley, Koch had a season-long, 13-inning scoreless streak.
 
Sophomore, Sean Stutzman, has been a dependable lefty out of the pen, adding to his scoreless streak of 4.1 innings with one frame on Tuesday.  Stutzman has allowed 15 runs in 32 innings to compile an ERA of 3.66 through a variety of relief roles.  At Horner Ballpark versus SFA on April 22, Stutzman tossed three shutout innings while striking out a season-high, four.  In Sunday's setback last weekend at Indiana State University, the southpaw faced only one batter and retired him on a fly out.  Stutzman also sat down all three batters he faced on Tuesday at Oklahoma in an inning of action.
 
SCOUTING THE BEARS – Missouri State enters the weekend 6-6 overall, 1 game behind DBU for fourth place in the conference and 3 games behind first place Evansville.  The Bears are 5-5 over their last 10 games, dropped their two mid-week games to Arkansas and Arkansas-Little Rock by scores of 4-1 and 10-6, respectively.

Missouri State enters the weekend seventh in the conference in hitting at .260 and their 190 runs scored are the fewest in the conference.  The pitching staff has posted a 3.72 ERA for sixth best in the league.  Defensively, the club has been amazing, displaying a .972 fielding percentage, best in the MVC.

Tate Matheny's .316 average is second on the team and his seven homeruns are tied for third most in the conference with DBU's Listi.  Eric Cheray leads the club with a .327 average and is also tops in RBI with 26.

In the weekend pitching rotation, Friday's hurler, Cody Schumacher, leads the staff with a 5-1 record and a 2.22 ERA.  Clay Murphy is tops on the pitching staff with 58 strikeouts, and takes the mound on Saturday versus the Patriots.
 
In relief, Adam Anawalt, has 4 saves, but owns an ERA at 5.40 and is 0-2 on the season.
 
SERIES HISTORY – Prior to the Patriots sweeping Missouri State earlier this season in non-conference action, the programs were 4-4 against each other, with the last meetings in 2012.  DBU now owns a 7-4 all-time edge over the Bears.  Friday will mark the first time the clubs face each other in a contest that counts towards the conference standings.
 
At Springfield, Missouri, all three match-ups resulted in low scoring, pitching duals, with DBU prevailing in all of them.  DBU outscored the Bears 4-0 in the entire series, with each game being decided in the ninth inning.
 
Redshirt sophomore, Trevin Soonier, hit a game-winning RBI single to score Salters in game one. Voelker tossed his best outing of the year with Koch picking up his first save of the season.
 
In the middle game of the three-game set, the Patriots manufactured a pair of runs in a 2-0 final despite only picking up three hits in the entire contest.  In the ninth, Wesolowski reached on a throwing error after attempting to sacrifice bunt. Sonnier, Friday's hero, would score the go-ahead run.  Wesolowski would race to second and eventually score the other run on a fielder's choice from Wall.
 
In the final game of the series, Listi would tattoo a game-winning homer in the ninth to complete the series sweep and cap-off a third-straight shutout.  Taylor logged a career outing, fanning 11, and a trio of relievers: Stutzman, Urban, and Koch, gathered the last six outs to hold onto the narrow win.  Koch earned his second save of the series by striking out Matt Fultz with the tying run at first.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE – Dallas Baptist wraps-up a four-game homestand with Texas Tech University on May 6 to finish off a home-and-home series with the Red Raiders.  First pitch is at 2 PM.  The Red Raiders claimed the earlier season match-up on April 15, 5-4.
 
More conference action is on the way after the mid-week game versus Texas Tech, as the Patriots travel on a three-game road series at Wichita State University May 9-11.  After the three-game set in Wichita, DBU is back at Horner Ballpark to conclude the non-conference portion of the campaign with a Tuesday afternoon game against Oklahoma on April 29.