SPRINGFIELD – After 34 seasons on the Missouri State baseball staff, long-time assistant Paul Evans is retiring from the university at the end of this month.
Evans, who tutored Missouri State’s pitchers from 1989-2022, ends a remarkable career during which he coached a total of 67 hurlers that signed pro contracts, including at least one 33 of his 34 seasons. Fourteen of those pitchers advanced to the Major Leagues and 15 earned All-America honors.
Five MSU pitchers – Ross Detwiler, Jon Harris, Pierce Johnson, John Rheinecker and Brett Sinkbeil – were first-round MLB draft picks, while Nick Petree was named Collegiate Baseball’s Louisville Slugger National Player of the Year in 2012.
Over his final 11 years on staff, Evans’ pupils posted three of the four lowest team ERAs, as well as the top three single-season strikeout totals, in program history. He was named D1Baseball.com’s National Assistant Coach of the Year following MSU’s historic 2015 season in which the Bears ranked among the top 12 nationally in ERA, hits allowed, strikeouts and shutouts on the way to a school-record 49 wins and Super Regional appearance.
