Blue Collar and Built To Last: The Rise of Missouri State Baseball

There were 6,538 people packed into Hammons Field on a March evening in Springfield, MO, where most were expecting a comfortable afternoon for the nationally ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. What they watched instead was something else entirely.

Missouri State refused to go quietly on March 31, 2026.

The Bears trailed deep into the game, then staged one of the more jaw-dropping comebacks of the entire college baseball season, scoring two runs in the ninth inning to tie the game before outlasting Arkansas with a final score of 15-14 in 10 innings.

Bryce Cermenelli went 4-for-6 with 2 RBI, and Caden Bogenpohl went 3-for-5 with a HR and 2 RBI. It was the kind of game that doesn’t happen by accident.

It was also the kind of game that tells you exactly who Missouri State is.

“I truly do believe we have elite leadership in our locker room right now and that’s a difference maker for us.” — Head Coach Joey Hawkins

Second-year head coach Joey Hawkins addressed the performance in an interview with the cool, unsurprised tone of a man who had seen his team do this before.

For him, it wasn’t a fluke or a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. It was the product of months of preparation, a deeply held team philosophy, and something rarer than any stat line: genuine chemistry.

“The chemistry has been elite,” Hawkins said. “I think it’s the number one challenge in today’s world. You know, there’s no hiding that there’s a lot of turnover for everybody roster-wise. So for us, we were fortunate to return a very good core of players that had played a lot, but most importantly, really cared about the program.”

What happened in Springfield that evening was a snapshot of everything Missouri State baseball has been and everything Coach Hawkins wants it to become.

The Foundation Beneath the Feet

Missouri State baseball doesn’t carry the weight of a storied SEC brand or the recruiting pipeline of a perennial national contender. What it does carry is a quietly remarkable resume, one that has been building since the program played its first game in 1964 and hasn’t stopped since.

Twelve NCAA Tournament appearances. Three Super Regional berths. A College World Series appearance in 2003. Forty-eight All-Americans. Twenty-four major leaguers. Six first-round draft picks. A National League MVP (Ryan Howard). Two National League Rookies of the Year (Drake Baldwin and Howard). An American League batting champion (Bill Mueller) and a home run champion (Howard).

For a program in Conference USA, a non-Power conference in an era where the gap between the haves and have-nots in college baseball has never been wider, that kind of production is extraordinary. And Hawkins knows it.

“We go through all those things,” he said when describing how he pitches the program to recruits. “I think that’s a big way to start the conversation. It catches a lot of people’s attention.”

The history of Missouri State baseball runs deeper than most fans outside the Midwest realize. The program has consistently produced professional talent, developed players at the highest levels, and built a culture of competitiveness that predates the current staff by decades.

Hawkins is only the third head coach in program history, a fact that speaks to the kind of stability that is increasingly hard to find in college baseball’s transfer portal era.

The program’s home is Hammons Field, a natural grass ballpark in the heart of Springfield with a seating capacity of 8,000. It is not a standard college facility. Hammons is a full-fledged professional stadium, home to the Springfield Cardinals, the Double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Missouri State shares it with one of baseball’s most storied organizations.

The dimensions stretch out to 400 feet in dead center, the outfield wall is real, and the playing surface is maintained year-round by a full-time grounds crew.

“We have winter blankets that go on our field when it gets cold, and they get ripped off in January and we’re out playing on a natural surface in January in the Midwest, which is rare,” Hawkins said. “If you’re a player who loves baseball, man, this is the place to play because you got everything you need here.”

There is something genuinely unique about playing in a stadium where professional prospects roam the same halls. For example, Liam Doyle, the fifth overall pick in last year’s draft, Jurrangelo Cijntje, the 15th overall pick from the 2024 MLB Draft, and Chase Davis, the 21st overall pick from the 2023 MLB Draft, are all currently playing in Springfield.

For Missouri State players looking across the diamond at guys who were in their shoes just a couple of years ago, that proximity matters more than any recruiting brochure ever could.

“We’ve done everything here. We’ve been to Omaha, we’ve hosted regionals, we’ve been to super regionals. The history is real.” — Joey Hawkins

That history isn’t just a sales pitch. It is an identity that has survived coaching changes, conference realignment, and the chaos of the modern roster-building landscape. When Hawkins walks into a recruit’s living room, he isn’t selling a dream, he’s presenting a documented track record.

The Kid Who Came Home

Joey Hawkins was 31 years old when he was handed the keys to a program he once played for. He is 33 now. In a profession that trends older, where head coaching jobs at this level typically come to coaches who have spent decades grinding through assistant positions at bigger programs, Hawkins is something of an anomaly.

He’s young enough to still feel like a player, seasoned enough to run a program with the confidence of someone who has done this his whole life.

“Not many people get to coach at their alma mater. Not many people get to become a head coach, quite frankly,” he said. “I got the keys to the program. I was 31 years old. I’m 33 now. I feel like I just played.”

His path back to Springfield was shaped by the game itself. A player whose career ended earlier than he hoped, Hawkins found his purpose on the other side of the white lines.

The disappointment of his playing days ending didn’t close a door; it opened one. He got into coaching immediately, worked through the system, and eventually found himself back where it all began, inheriting a program that needed direction without needing to be rebuilt from scratch.

Since arriving in the summer of 2022, Hawkins has installed a hitting philosophy as simple as it is effective: hit strikes hard. No elaborate system, no overcomplicated approach. Just a singular focus on contact quality, strike zone awareness, and hard-hit ability across every lineup spot from one through nine.

“I was a terrible hitter,” Hawkins admitted with a laugh. “So I always remind myself how hard hitting is and the ability to give guys a simple hitting philosophy. Ours is hit strikes hard. It allows us to focus on contact. It allows us to focus on the strike zone. And it allows us to focus on improving everybody’s hard hit ability.”

The results have been hard to argue with. Missouri State ranked eighth in the country in home runs over the last four seasons, and they are tied for fifth overall in 2026.

In 2025, the Bears hit 109 home runs as a team while posting a .406 on-base percentage. This spring, the lineup has been even more dynamic, boasting a team OBP north of .400 and the ability to manufacture runs multiple ways.

Caden Bogenpohl reached base in 66 of his last 67 games and has a .497 OBP this year. Carter Bergman is slugging .663 while also boasting a robust .446 OBP. And the team batting average leader, Logan Fyffe, also has a .614 SLG and .429 OBP.

“This is the most dynamic lineup I’ve had since I’ve been here when you factor in our ability to play the short game,” Hawkins said. “We have guys that can make contact at an elite level and we can run the ball out of the yard with the best of them in the country and we take our walks. We’re tough one through nine, and we’re hard to navigate for nine innings.”

That depth showed up on the scoreboard in 2025, a 30-25 season that ended at the MVC Championship but reestablished Missouri State as a program on the rise.

The 2026 season has picked up where 2025 left off. The Bears have opened up with 21-10 overall with a 9-3 mark in Conference USA play and a perfect 15-0 record at Hammons Field. The culture Hawkins has been building, patient, relentless, and deeply rooted in accountability, is starting to show its teeth.

“Our players do a tremendous job,” he said. “These transfers, they’ve been gelled into who we are as a program and what our identity is. What you’re seeing is potentially one of the most passionate group of guys in college baseball right now.”

“We’re blue collar and we play with a ton of passion. We play with a chip on our shoulder. That’s what Missouri State baseball is.” — Joey Hawkins

That passion is player-led in large part, but it flows from the top. Hawkins carries himself with the energy of someone who genuinely cannot believe he gets to do this for a living, and that enthusiasm is contagious.

His coaching staff has remained largely intact, a rarity in a landscape defined by musical chairs. The continuity has paid dividends with recruits who want to know they’re committing to something stable.

“In today’s world with a lot of coaching changes, a lot of assistant coaching changes, a lot of transfer portal millsm our ability to show these parents that we’ve had so much continuity here, I’m only the third head coach in program history, that’s the separator,” he said. “People want to be coached by our coaches. The tiebreaker is the people here.”

The Importance of the Springfield Community

Walk into Hammons Field on a Friday night when Missouri State is home, and you’ll feel something that doesn’t exist at every college baseball program in the country, a genuine buzz. Not manufactured. Not piped in through a PA system. The kind that comes from a community that has adopted its team the way communities in smaller cities tend to adopt their teams: personally.

Springfield is not a big market. It doesn’t have a Big Ten or SEC program to compete with. Missouri State is the show, and the city knows it.

The social media engagement alone tells a story. When we tweet about the Bears, the interaction from Missouri State fans outpaces what most programs twice the size generate. People are paying attention.

“We have a good support system,” Hawkins said. “It shows up in attendance numbers, but it shows up with fundraising, with our special events, with social media. And those things matter in today’s world. It creates a lot of buzz around your program.”

That support has translated into tangible investment. Hawkins has made fundraising a core part of his off-field role, helping raise $300,000 for a renovated weight room that now features a brand-new facility, upgraded offices, and a modern players lounge.

For a mid-major program operating outside the financial infrastructure of the power conferences, that kind of community buy-in is the difference between competing and just showing up.

“I love coaching, but I’m not stupid,” he said. “It is important to get out and build relationships in the community. And that’s something that I love doing.”

The 15-0 home record in 2026 is partly a product of talent and preparation. But it’s also partly the product of what happens when a stadium feels like a fortress, when the crowd is invested, the environment is electric, and the team on the field knows that the community at its back isn’t there by accident.

There is something fitting about a program like Missouri State thriving in this era. The Bears don’t recruit with the budget of an SEC school. They don’t have the name recognition of a coastal powerhouse. What they have is a legitimate history, an engaged community, a beautifully maintained ballpark, and a head coach who is exactly where he wants to be.

That blue-collar mentality and community support are real. You can see it in the way the Bears play, aggressive, relentless, and deeply unbothered by whoever is on the other side of the field, even if that team is ranked in the top two in the country.

The Road Back to Omaha

Missouri State has been to Omaha once, in 2003, when the program reached its highest peak. Hawkins knows that story well. He was a kid then, watching from a distance, not yet understanding what the program would one day mean to him. He was a player when the Bears came within a single run of going back in 2015, losing game three of a Super Regional in heartbreaking fashion.

“I’d pass out if it happened,” he said when asked what a return to Omaha would mean. “Selfishly, I was one run away from going to Omaha as a player. We lost game three of the Super Regional in 2015. Talk about heartbreak. That’s it.”

But the selfishness ends there. What drives Hawkins isn’t personal redemption. It’s something bigger, getting it there for the current players, for the alumni who support this program day to day, for the two head coaches before him who still show up at Hammons Field and care.

“I want it so bad for the current players, so bad for our alums, so bad for our other two head coaches who are both still around here every single day,” he said. “We can get there. We just got to be in the moment, and we got to play good baseball.”

That might sound simple. But simple works at Missouri State. Hit strikes hard. Stay in the moment. Play with passion. Build something that lasts.

Down late against a nationally ranked team in the country, a group of Bears who had heard all of that every single day since August played it out in real time. They scored two in the ninth, won it in the tenth.

Missouri State baseball is back. And if Joey Hawkins has anything to say about it, it’s not going anywhere.