Ball State University Athletics
March 27: Baseball Weekly Release
March 27, 2006 | Baseball
THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE BASEBALL: The Cardinals host their first game of the year Tuesday with a 3 p.m. game against the Wright State Raiders at Ball Diamond . . . BSU then travels to West Lafayette, Ind., on Wednesday for a 3 p.m. game against the Purdue Boilermakers . . . Ball State wraps up the week with a three-game Mid-American Conference series with Miami beginning Friday at 3 p.m. and continuing Saturday and Sunday with 1 p.m. contests . . . All five games can be heard live on the internet by visiting www.wcrd.net or clicking on the baseball schedule link at www.ballstatesports.com.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the week with a 9-11 overall record (2-1 MAC) after going 2-1 against the Akron Zips last weekend . . . The Cardinals dropped last Friday's MAC opener 3-2 at Akron, but responded with 11-5 and 4-2 wins to close out the weekend . . . C Matt Singleton led the team with his .417 batting average, five hits and five runs against the Zips . . . 1B Brad Miller, who had a team-high four RBI, slugged his fourth home run of the season in Sunday's win . . . LHP Kory Bucklew pitched four scoreless innings of relief work Sunday, posting three strikeouts with no walks while allowing just three hits . . . On the season, INF Matt Gard leads the Cardinals with his .316 batting average followed by Singleton's .288 . . . 2B Kyle Dygert has a team-high .381 on-base percentage . . . RHP Jay Broughton (4.30 ERA, 1-1, 14.2 IP, 8 ER, 9 BB, 13 SO) is slated to start Tuesday's game against Wright State . . . LHP Ryan Schmidt (2.16 ERA, 0-0, 8.1 IP, 2 ER, 9 BB, 6 SO) will take the mound against Purdue on Wednesday . . . Against Miami, LHP Ben Snyder (3.79 ERA, 2-2, 38.0 IP, 16 ER, 17 BB, 41 SO) will start Friday, while RHP Tyler Pritchard (4.44 ERA, 2-1, 26.1 IP, 13 ER, 14 BB, 14 SO) will begin Saturday's game and RHP Ryan DeGeeter (2.25 ERA, 2-3, 32.0 IP, 8 ER, 14 BB, 24 SO) will start on Sunday.
ABOUT WRIGHT STATE: The Raiders enter the week with an 11-8 overall record (4-2 Horizon League) after sweeping a three-game series with Cleveland State last weekend . . . WSU earned a 7-1 win on Saturday, plus 2-1 and 7-1 victories in Sunday's doubleheader . . . The Raiders are hitting .285 as a team . . . INF Ross Oeder leads the team with a .339 batting average . . . Wright State has a 4.14 team ERA . . . RHP Erich Schanz (1.84 ERA, 0-1, 14.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 BB, 12 SO) is the probable starter for Tuesday's game.
THE SERIES: Wright State leads the all-time series with a 7-6 record, but Ball State has won the last two meetings . . . In a four-game series last year, the Raiders took the first two games (4-2, 5-4), while the Cardinals posted two consecutive shutouts (3-0, 8-0) to close out the weekend.
ABOUT PURDUE: The Boilermakers enter the week with an 11-5 overall record after sweeping a three-game series with Chicago State over the weekend . . . Purdue took both games of Saturday's doubleheader (5-4, 16-6) and earned a 14-0 shutout on Sunday . . . The Boilers are hitting .318 as a team . . . Mitch Hilligoss leads the team with his .397 batting average . . . Purdue has a 4.34 team ERA . . . BSU will see either RHP Allan Donato (11.74 ERA, 0-0, 7.2 IP, 10 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO) or RHP Andrew Groves (2.70 ERA, 0-0, 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO) on the mound on Wednesday.
THE SERIES: Purdue leads the all-time series with a 40-32-2 record, but Ball State has won the last three meetings, including a 9-8 decision on March 30, 2005.
ABOUT MIAMI: The RedHawks, who play at Xavier on Tuesday and Cincinnati on Wednesday, enter the week with an 8-10 overall record (1-2 MAC) after dropping two games at Toledo last weekend . . . Miami dropped a 6-3 game on Friday and a 4-1 game on Saturday before recovering with an 11-6 win on Sunday . . . The Redhawks are batting .277 as a team, with a 4.49 team ERA . . . The probable starters for the Redhawks are LHP Keith Weiser (3.71 ERA, 2-2, 34.0 IP, 14 ER, 7 BB, 27 SO) on Friday, LHP Graham Taylor (4.59 ERA, 1-3, 33.1 IP, 17 ER, 9 BB, 19 SO) on Saturday and RHP John Ely (3.44 ERA, 3-1, 34.0 IP, 13 ER, 7 BB, 37 SO) on Sunday.
THE SERIES: Miami leads the all-time series 65-49 and has won three straight . . . The Redhawks ended Ball State's season in the their only meeting last year with a 9-3 win on the third day of the MAC Tournament.
BSU BASEBALL ALL-TIME: The Cardinals own a 1,276-1,194-14 (.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 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 111-78 (.587) overall record and a 50-26 (.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' 50th MAC victory came Sunday, March 26 with a 4-2 win at Akron . . . 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.
