Ball State University Athletics
Snyder Earns Freshman All-America Accolades
June 09, 2005 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - Ball State redshirt freshman starting pitcher Ben Snyder (Bellevue, Ohio/Bellevue H.S.) has been named to the 2005 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America Team, as chosen by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Snyder is the seventh BSU freshman to earn All-America honors and joins his brother Brad Snyder - - who picked up three All-America honors while at Ball State - - as the only brother duo in school annals to be named All-Americans.
Snyder is the second Ball State baseball student-athlete to earn All-America honors in 2005, joining Erik Morrison (Hanover, Ind./Southwestern H.S.), who was named to the Louisville Slugger All-America Second Team. Snyder is the third player to earn All-America honors under head coach Greg Beals.
Snyder finished his freshman campaign with an 8-5 overall record. The eight victories tied for fifth in the league. His 7-0 Mid-American Conference mark was tops among all starters in the conference, while his 2.82 ERA in league-only contests ranked 13th in the MAC.
The 6-2 lefty - - who wears the same number (7) as his older brother, Brad, did at Ball State - - started the season with an 0-3 record in his first four starts before winning his next eight. During the eight-straight wins, Snyder lowered his ERA from 7.66 to 3.83 and tallied 62 strikeouts, including a career-high and Ball State season-best 14 in his first start of the streak vs. Oakland (March 19), which was also his first career seven-inning complete-game victory.
Snyder was named the Louisville Slugger National Pitcher of the Week and MAC West Division Pitcher of the Week after his outing vs. Oakland. He picked up his second career MAC West Division Pitcher of the Week award in the last victory of the streak when he posted his first career nine-inning complete-game victory - - a 9-0 decision over Marshall May 14. In the contest, Snyder limited the Thundering Herd to five hits, while striking out seven batters to give the Cardinals the MAC West Division.
In 15 appearances - - including 14 starts - - Snyder posted a 4.21 ERA in 98.1 innings of work. He limited opposing batters to a .249 (93-for-373) batting average while only giving up 46 earned runs. He ranked second on the team and tied for fourth in the league with 87 strikeouts, while issuing only 21 walks.
