The U-N-I baseball team opens a Missouri Valley Conference series at home Friday night with a matchup agasinst Missouri State. The Panthers are coming off a Wednesday night loss to Minnesota in 11 innings and are 1-2 in the Valley. Missouri State is off to a 3-0 start in conference play.

U-N-I coach Rick Heller who says the Bears may have the best pitching staff in the conference. He says they played the last series of the year last year and Missouri State played well.

Heller says the pitching staff will need a good weekend to give the Panthers a chance. He says it looks like the weather will be nice and he hopes the warmer weather will help their bats heat up. The teams will also play single games on Saturday and Sunday.