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Wichita State holds the distinction of being the winningest Division I program in college baseball over the last three decades, and has dominated the Missouri Valley Conference through the years like no other team has dominated a mid-major. But the Shockers were upstaged by regular season and tournament champion Creighton a year ago, and aren’t favored to win the MVC in 2012.
Upstart Missouri State enters the season as the consensus favorite to win the conference title, which would mark a significant turnaround for the Bears, who finished dead last two years ago with a 6-15 conference mark and were 21-34 overall.
The Bears progressed to 33-23/11-9 a year ago, and return almost every player from that team. Junior catcher Luke Voit (.286-6-35), senior first baseman Brock Chaffin (.344-6-37), senior second baseman Kevin Medrano (.325-0-34) and senior third baseman Brent Seifert (.290-1-30) are key regulars that are back, while freshman All-American right-hander Nick Petree (9-2, 2.81) is the headline arm on a deep Bears pitching staff.
The Shockers finished second in the conference a year ago and should provide the stiffest challenge for Missouri State as they return key players like junior first baseman Johnny Coy (.274-7-59), senior left-hander Josh Smith (7-4, 3.00) and sophomore closer Cale Elam (4-1, 1.23, 5 SV), but have more unanswered roster questions as the 2012 season begins than Missouri State does.
HOW THEY STACK UP
Overall/conference won-loss records from 2011 indicated; expectation level denoted -- College World Series= CWS, NCAA Super Regional= SR, NCAA Regional= R
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