Highlighted by a league-best four selections to the 2018 Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Team, Missouri State was tabbed second in the Valley’s annual preseason poll in a vote of the conference’s head coaches.
Returning All-Americans Jeremy Eierman and Jake Fromson led the Bears’ contingent, which matched that of MVC league favorite DBU for the honor of placing the most players on the conference’s preseason team. Junior pitcher Dylan Coleman and junior outfielder Hunter Steinmetz also nabbed spots on the Valley’s distinguished list of 15 preseason honorees.
Coleman posted a breakthrough sophomore season last spring, sharing the Bears’ team lead with eight mound victories and an MVC-best 106 strikeouts to help anchor MSU’s weekend rotation. A Potosi, Mo., native, he ranked among the Valley’s top 10 hurlers in opposing batting average (.229), starts (16), wins (8), innings pitched (99.1) and strikeouts (106) and shared the MVC lead with five wins during conference play. The right-hander capped his year with a dominant 10-strikeout performance over a career-long 7 1/3 innings against TCU in the opening game of the Fort Worth Super Regional, scattering three hits and permitting just two earned runs.
Eierman was a first-team All-America choice of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game USA after logging a breakthrough 2017 campaign for the Bears, both at the plate and in the middle of the MSU infield as one of the MVC’s top defenders. He became the third Bear in the last six seasons to be named the NCBWA’s District VI most outstanding player and was a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award honoring the nation’s top shortstop, as well as a semifinalist for the NCBWA’s Dick Howser Trophy. A consensus preseason All-America pick this year, the Warsaw, Mo., product shared the No. 5 spot nationally with 23 home runs after turning in an NCAA postseason to remember, helping the Bears to their third Division I Regional crown by hitting a pair of home runs in Missouri State’s opening-round victory over Oklahoma State, as well as a tie-breaking two-run shot in the deciding game against Arkansas.
Fromson picked up third-team All-America recognition from Collegiate Baseball last season on the heels of a record-setting junior campaign out of the Missouri State bullpen. He led the MVC with a 2.25 earned run average to go along with an 8-3 mound mark and two saves in a school-record 37 total mound appearances. Fromson, the 38th All-American in MSU program history, became the first reliever to earn the Valley’s Pitcher of the Year award since WSU’s Marc Bluma in 1998 and the fifth Bear in the last 10 seasons to claim the honor. A Lee’s Summit, Mo., native, the right-hander was particularly dominant in MVC play, going 4-0 and allowing only two earned runs while striking out 32 and walking just three in 26.0 innings over 12 appearances.
Steinmetz turned in a banner sophomore campaign in 2017, eclipsing the .300 batting mark for the second straight year while establishing personal highs for runs scored (60), homers (7), RBIs (42) and walks (45). The Springfield, Mo., earned Second-Team All-MVC, MVC All-Defensive Team and MVC Championship All-Tournament Team honors after logging 25 multi-hit games, which ranked second on the squad. He reached safely in all 19 MVC contests, pacing the circuit with 45 walks that rank fourth in MSU single-season history. Steinmetz made noise over the summer as well, leading the prestigious Cape Cod League with 17 stolen bases to earn all-league honors.
Defending Valley Tournament champion DBU garnered seven of the eight first-place votes and finished with 63 points overall to claim the top spot in the poll. The Patriots edged the Bears (57 points), who received the remaining first-place vote, while Indiana State (42) and Southern Illinois (35) rounded out the top half of the preseason poll.
Illinois State (31) and Bradley finished fifth and sixth, respectively, while Evansville (18) and Valparaiso were slotted into the final two positions in the poll.
The league’s eight clubs will convene in Dallas at the conclusion of the conference season for the right to represent the Valley in the 201 NCAA Tournament.
Missouri State is coming off the winningest three-year period in program history after claiming 130 victories since the start of the 2015 season. The Bears, who finished with a 43-20 overall record after capturing the Fayetteville Regional crown to advance to NCAA Super Regional play for the third time, breezed through MVC play with 18 straight victories to start the league season en route to their fifth Valley regular-season title.
The Bears completed the season with their second national ranking in three years, placing as high as No. 12 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 poll.
MSU opens the 2018 campaign Feb. 16, when it meets Texas Southern at the Cardinal Classic in Beaumont, Texas.
Bears’ single-game tickets for the 2018 season, which will also go on-sale Feb. 5, remain priced at $5 for the general public, $2.50 for Missouri State faculty and staff, $2 for students and special rates are offered for groups of 20 or more. All children ages 12 and under not accompanied by a season-ticket holder will require a $2 ticket for admission. Students must show a valid and current BearPass Card along with a student ticket to gain entry to Hammons Field.
All Bears baseball season-ticket holders – including new orders and renewals placed by Feb. 5 – will be entitled to the same number of complementary tickets to First Pitch and Reunion Night, which will be held Feb. 10 at the Bill Rowe Training Center and feature former big league pitcher and current St. Louis Cardinals commentator Al Hrabosky.
