Ball State University Athletics
Feb. 13: Baseball Weekly Release
February 13, 2006 | Baseball
Baseball Weekly Release (PDF)
This week in Ball State Baseball: The Cardinals open the 2006 season with a three-game series versus the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in Birmingham, Ala. . . . Friday's first pitch is slated for 6 p.m. at Jerry D. Young Memorial Field, while Saturday's game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start and Sunday's at 1 p.m.
About the Cardinals: Ball State returns 22 letterwinners -- including 11 seniors, seven position starters and two starting pitchers -- to a squad that recorded the fourth-highest win total in school history with a 38-18 overall record (17-5 MAC) and captured BSU's sixth Mid-American Conference West Division crown . . . In the MAC Tournament, BSU defeated Bowling Green (5-4) in 11 innings, before falling to Central Michigan (7-8) . . . Ball State bounced back by beating Akron (6-3), but was knocked out of the Tournament by eventual champion Miami (3-9) . . . All-MAC First Team selections Kyle Dygert (Sr., 2B), Ben Snyder (R-So., LHP), Mike Sullivan (Sr., CF) plus MAC All-Tournament Team honorees Brad Miller (Sr., 1B) and Eric Earnhart (Jr., RF) will begin the year in the starting lineup . . . Matt Singleton (Sr., C), Chris Pestle (Sr., LF), C.J. Webb (Sr., 3B) and Tyler Pritchard (So., RHP) round out the returning starters . . . Phil Bednar (So., SS) will be the lone newcomer to the starting lineup.
About UAB: The Blazers, looking for their third-straight 30-win season, open their schedule by hosting Ball State . . . UAB returns 18 players -- four starters -- to a squad that finished with a 31-27 overall record (14-16 Conference USA) in 2005 . . . The Blazers fell to Tulane and Houston in the C-USA Tournament . . . Rounding out the lineup will be 18 newcomers . . . Head coach Larry Giangrosso enters his seventh season at the helm of the Blazers . . . Giangrosso has amassed a 157-184 record at UAB, with a career record of 731-472-1 in 27 years as a head coach . . . The Blazers were picked seventh in the C-USA preseason coaches poll, with Rice, Tulane and Southern Mississippi taking the top three spots.
The Series: BSU and UAB have met six times, with the series knotted at three games each . . . The Cardinals have won the last three games in the series, including a sweep of the Blazers last season . . . BSU earned a 7-6 win Feb. 25 plus 7-5 and 11-10 victories Feb. 26.
BSU Baseball All-Time: The Cardinals begin the season with a 1,267-1,183-14 (.517) all-time record . . . Ball State began play in 1920, compiling a 2-3 record under Orville Sink . . . In 85 years of competition -- no games were played in 1944 due to the war -- BSU has compiled a winning record 39 times . . . With a 38-18 record last season, the Cardinals have finished .500 or better in each of the last 10 seasons.
Head Coach Greg Beals: Greg Beals enters his fourth season as the head coach of the Ball State baseball team . . . In three seasons with the Cardinals, Beals has compiled a 102-67 (.604) overall record and a 48-25 (.658) Mid-American Conference mark . . . In 2003, Beals became the most successful first-year head coach in school history by guiding the Cardinals to a 36-21 overall record . . . Beals is also the first BSU head coach to win the MAC West Division title in his first season, with a 17-10 MAC ledger . . . In addition, he is just the third coach to post a winning record in his first year at BSU . . . Beals earned his 100th victory May 21, 2005, in the second game of a doubleheader with Wright State . . . The Cardinals shut out the Raiders 8-0 . . . Beals is just the eighth head coach in Ball State baseball history, ranking sixth in overall wins and third in MAC victories . . . Pat Quinn, BSU Associate A.D. and baseball sport supervisor, holds the record for career overall wins (323), while current University of Michigan head coach Rich Maloney owns the MAC win mark (149).
MAC Preseason Poll: Ball State was picked to finish second in the MAC West Division preseason coaches poll (released Feb. 1), behind last year's divisional runner-up Central Michigan . . . Miami is the favorite to win the East Division and the postseason Tournament.
