Ball State University Athletics
March 20: Baseball Weekly Release
March 20, 2006 | Baseball
Baseball: March 20 Weekly Release (PDF)
This week in Ball State Baseball: The Cardinals travel to Cincinnati, Ohio, to take on the University of Cincinnati Bearcats Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the UC Baseball Stadium . . . Ball State opens its 2006 Mid-American Conference slate this weekend with a three-game series versus the University of Akron Zips at Akron, Ohio . . . Friday's game is slated for a 3 p.m. start, while first pitch for Saturday and Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Lee Jackson Field . . . Live game stats will be available for the UC game at www.ucbearcats.com and the Akron series at www.gozips.com.
About the Cardinals: Ball State enters the week with a 7-10 overall record after splitting a four-game series at Louisville last weekend . . . BSU dropped games Friday and Sunday, but won both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday . . . The Cardinals are hitting .231 on the season, led by CF Mike Sullivan's .300 batting average . . . Sullivan hit a team-high .462 against the U of L with six hits and two RBI, followed by 2B Kyle Dygert's .400 on four hits . . . 1B Brad Miller paced the squad with four RBI on five hits, including two doubles and his third home run of the season . . . RHP Jay Broughton notched his first collegiate win in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader . . . BSU has a 3.50 team ERA . . . RHP Richie Fralick (5.79 ERA, 0-0, 9.1 IP, 6 ER, 10 BB, 7 SO) is the probable starter for Wednesday's contest . . . The rotation for the Akron series will be LHP Ben Snyder (3.94 ERA, 2-2, 32.0 IP, 14 ER, 12 BB, 37 SO), RHP Tyler Pritchard (4.22 ERA, 1-1, 21.1 IP, 10 ER, 11 BB, 12 SO) and RHP Ryan DeGeeter (2.00 ERA, 1-3, 27.0 IP, 6 ER, 12 BB, 23 SO).
About Cincinnati: The Bearcats, who host Xavier Tuesday at 4 p.m., enter the week with a 13-6 overall record after taking all three games from Oakland last weekend . . . Cincinnati outscored the Grizzlies 49-24 with two games of 20 or more runs . . . UC is hitting .315 as a team, led by INF Josh Harrison's .408 batting average . . . Four other Bearcats -- 1B/LHP Jack Nelson, INF Mark Muscenti, 1B Logan Parker and INF Jon DeLuca -- are hitting above .300 . . . . . . Cincinnati has a 4.72 team ERA . . . UC's starter will be either LHP Dan Osterbrock (15.00 ERA, 0-0, 6.0 IP, 10 ER, 7 BB, 3 SO) or RHP Nick Buscemi (1.74 ERA, 1-0, 10.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO) on the mound against the Cardinals.
The Series: Cincinnati leads the all-time series with a 13-10-1 record, including wins in the last two meetings.
About Akron: The Zips, who host Duquesne Tuesday at 2 p.m., enter the week with a 5-12 overall record after dropping two games apiece to Western Kentucky and Wisconsin-Milwaukee last weekend . . . UA is hitting .301 as a team, led by INF Ryan Frazee's .400 batting average . . . Four other Zips -- 1B/C Kurt Davidson, INF Vince Chiera, INF Brian Kimutis and OF Charlie Lenhard -- are hitting above .300 . . . Akron has an 8.07 team ERA . . . Probable starters for the Zips will be RHP Ross Liersemann (2.68 ERA, 3-2, 40.1 IP, 12 ER, 8 BB, 38 SO) on Friday, RHP Tom Farmer (9.00 ERA, 1-3, 28.0 IP, 28 ER, 22 BB, 31 SO) on Saturday and RHP Stephen Williams Jr. (6.97 ERA, 1-2, 20.2 IP, 16 ER, 11 BB, 17 SO) on Sunday.
The Series: Ball State leads the all-time series with Akron 18-13, including a 6-3 win May 27, 2005, during the MAC Tournament.
BSU Baseball All-Time: The Cardinals own a 1,274-1,193-14 (.516) 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 is currently in his fourth season as the head coach of the Ball State baseball team . . . In three-plus seasons with the Cardinals, Beals has compiled a 109-77 (.586) 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 first head coaching win March 1, 2003, with a 4-3 win over Evansville . . . His first MAC win was a 24-2 victory over Central Michigan, March 28, 2003 . . . His 100th career victory came May 21, 2005, with an 8-0 shutout in the second game of a doubleheader with Wright State . . . 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.
Awards: Redshirt-sophomore Kyle Heyne earned Ball State's first individual honor of 2006 -- and his first career individual accolade -- after being named the MAC West Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 20) . . . In five innings of relief work at UAB, Heyne posted a career-best six strikeouts, while allowing just one hit, no walks and zero earned runs.
