Headlined by four league specialty award winners and six first-team selections, a total of 10 Missouri State baseball players were selected for All-Missouri Valley Conference honors Tuesday by the league’s head coaches, who also tapped MSU head coach Keith Guttin as Dan Callahan MVC Coach of the Year. Junior third baseman Jake Burger was tabbed the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year, while junior right-hander Jake Fromson was voted the Valley’s Pitcher of the Year and junior pitcher Doug Still was named the league’s Newcomer of the Year.
Missouri State’s six selections for the Valley’s top postseason squad, including Burger, Fromson and Still, as well as designated hitter Blake Graham, second baseman Aaron Meyer and shortstop Jeremy Eierman brings the Bears’ total number of First-Team All-MVC honorees to 61 since MSU joined the league in 1991. MSU also placed a trio of players on the Valley’s second team, with outfielder Hunter Steinmetz and pitchers Jordan Knutson and Bryan Young earning all-conference honors. First baseman Justin Paulsen earned his third-consecutive All-MVC nod with an honorable mention citation, while Burger, Steinmetz and Knutson took home MVC All-Defensive Team honors.
Guttin’s selection as MVC Coach of the Year marks the sixth occasion he has been picked for the honor after previously earning the award in 1993, 2001, 2003, 2008 and 2015. The Bears’ 35th year bench boss guided MSU to the longest regular-season win streak (22 games) in the history of the conference, as MSU won its first 18 league games of the 2017 MVC season to post the best-ever start to a Valley season for any club. Guttin picked up his 1,200th career victory with MSU’s April 18 win over Mizzou and climbed into the NCAA’s top 25 for career victories at the Division I level earlier this spring. The Bears’ regular-season MVC title is their fifth since joining the Valley and their ninth regular-season conference title under Guttin, who ranks as the second-winningest coach in MVC history and seventh on the NCAA’s Division I wins list for active coaches with a career record of 1,213-754 (.617).
Burger becomes the fifth Bear to earn the MVC’s most outstanding player honor and MSU’s first since Brayden Drake’s selection in 2009. A junior third baseman from Chesterfield, Mo., Burger leads the league and ranks fourth nationally with 20 home runs, combining with Eierman to form the top power combination at the Division I level this season. Burger also paces the circuit in runs scored (62), while ranking among the nation’s top 15 hitters in slugging (.693) and total bases (142) as well. A semifinalist for the NCBWA’s Dick Howser Trophy for the second year in a row, the two-time All-American ranks second among all active Division I hitters with 45 career home runs, while his 231 career hits is the 15th best total in Missouri State history. Additionally, he becomes just the third Bear to earn First-Team All-MVC honors in three consecutive seasons, joining Steve Hacker (1993-95) and Kevin Medrano (2009-12) on that distinguished list.
Fromson has provided an invaluable mound presence for the Bears this season, logging a league-best 2.01 earned run average to go along with a 7-3 mound mark in 30 total appearances to become the first reliever to earn the Valley’s top honor for a pitcher since WSU’s Marc Bluma in 1998. The seventh Bear to be named MVC Pitcher of the Year and the fifth in the last 10 seasons, Fromson went 4-0 while allowing only two earned runs and striking out 32 and walking just three in 26.0 MVC innings over 12 appearances. The junior from Lee’s Summit, Mo., has allowed MVC lows for hits (33), earned runs (14) and opponent batting (.151), while ranking sixth overall in the league with 76 strikeouts in 62.2 innings. He also leads all Division I pitcher in WHIP (0.73) and ranks third nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (4.88) and 19th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.33).
Still bolstered the Bears’ weekend rotation with an impressive 7-1 mound mark to go along with a 2.66 ERA en route to becoming the first MSU starting pitcher to earn a spot on the Valley’s first team since 2015. The Sikeston, Mo., native has allowed just 30 runs in 81.1 innings spanning 13 starts and shares team lead and the No. 3 Valley win total this spring. Still, who is the ninth MSU standout to earn the MVC’s Newcomer of the Year honor, also ranks third in the league in both ERA and innings pitched, as well as seventh overall with 73 strikeouts on the year. He tossed the first complete-game shutout by a Bear since 2014 with his 8-0 road blanking of New Mexico on April 15 and logged a perfect 4-0 mark in league play.
Like Burger, Eierman was named a semifinalist for the NCBWA’s Dick Howser Trophy last week after a standout spring, both at the plate and in the middle of the Bears’ infield as one of the Valley’s top defenders. The Warsaw, Mo., product leads the Valley in RBIs with 59, while his 18 home runs rank sixth nationally and third overall in the MVC. The sophomore has hit .324 overall this season, posting Valley-best totals for runs scored (27) and RBIs (26) in league play to help steer the Bears to the regular-season title. He has been one of the league’s top defensive standouts as well, with just seven errors in 224 total defensive chances at shortstop, good for a .969 fielding percentage.
Graham is a first-time All-MVC honoree after turning in one of the top individual performances by a Valley player during the league season. The senior from Edwardsville, Ill., hit .375 during the conference season to lead the Bears, clubbing five of his eight home runs during the league race, while ranking among the top 10 batters in hitting, slugging (.708), on-base percentage (.459), hits (27), doubles (9), RBIs (24) and total bases (51) during MVC play.
Meyer also enjoyed a strong MVC campaign, hitting .350 over the Bears’ first nine Valley games before succumbing to a season-ending injury in late April. The Millstadt, Ill., product finished his senior season with a .292 overall batting mark to go along with career highs for home runs (4), slugging (.441) and on-base percentage (.372) as MSU’s starting second baseman in each of its first 41 games of the season.
Knutson helped anchor the Bears’ pitching staff as their regular Friday starter, recording a 6-2 record and 4.30 ERA in a team-best 83.2 innings over 16 total appearances. The Lee’s Summit, Mo., native also led the Bears and ranked third in the Valley with 83 strikeouts, including a career-high 13 punchouts in a two-hit, 8.0-inning effort in MSU’s 5-1 win over DBU on April 7.
Steinmetz picked up second-team honors after earning honorable mention All-MVC recognition as a freshman in 2016. The Springfield, Mo., native has reached base safely in each of MSU’s last 15 games coming into the postseason, hitting .284 for the season to go along with eight stolen bases and career-best totals for homers (4), RBIs (35) and walks (40).
A three-time All-MVC honoree and NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award candidate, Young was once again a reliable force at the back end of the MSU bullpen in 2017, recording an 0.81 ERA with seven saves over 21 outings. The Kansas City, Mo., product turned in 13 consecutive outings without allowing an earned run (March 15-May 14), and has allowed just two earned runs and eight hits in 22.1 total innings, holding the opposition to a combined .105 batting average.
Paulsen also picks up his third All-MVC honor after earning second-team honors in 2015 and honorable mention recognition last spring. The Bears’ regular first baseman topped the 40-RBI mark for the third-straight year and enters the postseason with a .343 batting mark to rank third overall in the conference. The Ballwin, Mo., native has recorded 18 multi-hit games this season, as well as a 14-game hit streak from March 18 through April 9.
The Bears will enter the 2017 MVC Baseball Championship as the top seed after finishing the regular-season with an 18-1 Valley mark and an overall record of 37-15. MSU, which will serve as host to the league’s postseason tournament for the fourth time at Hammons Field, will open tourney play with a 7:30 p.m. game Wednesday (May 24) evening against the eighth-seeded Redbirds.
