Ball State University Athletics
March 6: Weekly Baseball Release
March 06, 2006 | Baseball
This week in Ball State Baseball: The Cardinals play Belmont University Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn., then travel to Evansville, Ind., to face the University of Evansville . . . BSU will then take on Illinois State on Friday, Minnesota on Saturday and Vermont on Sunday in the Metrodome Tournament.
About the Cardinals: Ball State enters the week with a 2-6 record after going 1-2 against Vanderbilt last weekend . . . The Cardinals earned their first-ever victory against the Commodores Friday (3-2), but fell Saturday (6-7) and Sunday (1-6) . . . C.J. Webb went 4-for-10 (.400) in the series and had three RBI to lead BSU . . . Matt Singleton and Justin Rogers also notched four hits . . . Webb had five putouts and eight assists to post one of Ball State's seven perfect fielding percentages on the weekend . . . Matt Gard saw his first action of the season, starting at shortstop Friday . . . Gard scored the game-winning run against VU on an RBI-double by Mike Sullivan in the eighth inning . . . Eric Earnhart got his first two hits of the year . . . Ben Snyder struck out eight batters in 7.0 innings to get his first win of the year . . . Rogers leads the team with his .370 batting average.
About Belmont: The Bruins enter the week on a five-game winning streak for a 7-4 overall record . . . OF Wilson Tucker leads the team in batting (.452) with 19 hits and a .786 slugging percentage . . . Belmont has a .289 team batting average and a 4.65 ERA.
The Series: Ball State and Belmont have met once, with the Bruins taking the win.
About Evansville: The Purple Aces enter the week with an 8-6 overall record . . . 1B Pat Tumilty leads the team with a .326 batting average . . . As a team, Evansville is hitting .235 and the pitching staff has a 3.82 ERA.
The Series: Ball State and Evansville have met 62 times, with BSU trailing 29-33.
About Iillinois State: The RedBirds enter the week with a 1-7 overall record . . . As a team, ISU has a .243 batting average and a 7.70 ERA.
The Series: Ball State is 7-8 all-time versus Illinois State.
About Minnesota: The Golden Gophers enter the week with a 1-5 overall record . . . Andy Hunter has a team-high .450 batting average . . . Minnesota has a .247 team batting average and a 5.65 ERA.
The Series: Ball State is 1-8 all-time against Minnesota.
About Vermont: The Catamounts enter the week with an 0-3 record after being swept by Delaware.
The Series: This is the first meeting between BSU and Vermont.
BSU Baseball All-Time: The Cardinals own a 1,269-1,189-14 (.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 104-73 (.588) 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.
