Missouri State senior Spencer Johnson was chosen by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper as one of its national players of the week Monday, on the heels of a notable power surge that saw the Springfield native homer four times in four games to help the Bears run their current win streak to six games.
Johnson turned in blistering stretch at the plate to lead the 12th-ranked Bears to a perfect 4-0 week, hitting .417 (5-for-12), blasting four home runs, scoring six times and driving in eight runs. Johnson, who now shares the Missouri Valley Conference lead in homers (5) with fellow Bear All-America third baseman Jake Burger, went deep in MSU’s first two games of the week, then recorded the first two-homer game of his collegiate career in Sunday’s game vs. SIUE
The Springfield Parkview High product native slugged 1.417 for the week and has hit all five of his long balls during the Bears’ current six-game win streak. For the season, he is hitting .361 and slugging .917, the latter of which ranks second in the conference. Additionally, Johnson is second on the squad with 13 runs batted-in, thanks in large part to a pair of four-RBI games.
With its three-game sweep of SIU Edwardsville over the weekend, Missouri State improved to 9-1, matching the program’s best start over the first 10 games of a season. MSU is slated to host Oklahoma State Tuesday (March 8) in a 3:05 p.m. game at Hammons Field.
