SPRINGFIELD – The 2023 edition of the ‘Battle for Bell’ is set to take place Oct. 19 at Hammons Field. This year’s event, sponsored by SRC Holdings Corporation, will feature two games and all four Springfield collegiate programs, with the proceeds from ticket sales going directly to the local Howard Bell ALS Clinic at CoxHealth, which provides coordinated care and support to ALS patients in the region.
Once again, Missouri State will face Drury with the game scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Earlier that afternoon, Evangel will take on Baptist Bible College at 12 p.m. Tickets are $5 each, and admission is good for both games.
In continuing their efforts to raise awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), the city’s four collegiate programs will honor the late Howard Bell and the ongoing quest to find a cure for ALS – commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Bell, who passed away from ALS in 2013, shared close connections with the MSU and DU baseball programs. A three-year letterman for the Bears under current head coach Keith Guttin, Bell capped his collegiate career with a standout 1986 campaign in which he was honored as Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year after hitting .396 and helping MSU to a then-school-record 47 victories and its third straight AMCU Tournament title.
The Springfield native also spent more than a decade working on the baseball staff at Glendale High School and was an assistant under Mark Stratton, who would later become the Panthers first head baseball coach in 2005. Bell took over the Falcons program as head coach when Stratton arrived at Drury.
This year’s Panthers-Bears match-up will be the seventh time the two programs have staged the ‘Battle for Bell’ game, the first taking place on Sept. 29, 2012, at Hammons field. Evangel and BBC were added to the schedule for the first time last fall.
Gates will open one hour prior to each game. Tickets are $5 for adults with children 13 and under admitted free, and may be purchased in advance at https://www.coxhealthfoundation.com/event/battle-for-bell/ or on game day at Hammons Field. All seating is general admission.
