Ball State University Athletics
April 10 Weekly Release
April 10, 2006 | Baseball
Baseball: April 10 Weekly Release (PDF)
This week in Ball State Baseball: The Cardinals travel to Dayton for a 3 p.m. Tuesday game at Time Warner Cable Stadium . . . IPFW visits Ball Diamond Wednesday at 3 p.m. . . . Kent State hosts BSU at Schoonover Stadium this weekend with games at 3 p.m. on Friday, and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday . . . The Dayton and IPFW games can be heard live on 91.3 WCRD or on the internet by visiting www.wcrd.net or www.ballstatesports.com.
About the Cardinals: Ball State enters the week with a 16-14 overall record (6-3 MAC) after defeating Valparaiso 31-19 on Tuesday, dropping a 6-4 contest at Notre Dame on Wednesday, and then going 1-2 (4-3, 3-4, 6-9) in a weekend series against Ohio . . . OF Justin Rogers, currently on a 12-game hitting streak that began March 25 at Akron, led the team last week with a .444 batting average (8-for-18) while smashing his first career home run . . . 1B Brad Miller slugged three home runs versus Valparaiso, falling one shy of the school record that he set March 24, 2004, against those same Crusaders . . . The Cardinals tied school records for runs (31), hits (28) and RBI (29) against Valpo . . . RHP Adam Quinn earned his first collegiate victory over VU, going 2.2 innings and posting a career-high three strikeouts . . . Greg Beals will be coaching his 200th career game as a head coach Tuesday against Dayton . . . INF/DH Matt Gard paces the squad with his .310 batting average with Rogers in second at an even .300 . . . Mike Sullivan (.299) and Miller (.298) are hovering right around the .300 mark . . . LHP Ryan Schmidt (5.74 ERA, 0-1, 15.2 IP, 10 ER, 12 BB, 15 SO) is Tuesday's probable starter, while RHP Jay Broughton (5.73 ERA, 1-1, 22.0 IP, 14 ER, 14 BB, 16 SO) will take the mound on Wednesday . . . The regular weekend rotation of LHP Ben Snyder (4.56 ERA, 3-2, 51.1 IP, 26 ER, 24 BB, 54 SO), RHP Tyler Pritchard (3.73 ERA, 3-2, 41.0 IP, 17 ER, 15 BB, 25 SO) and RHP Ryan DeGeeter (2.95 ERA, 2-3, 42.2 IP, 14 ER, 16 BB, 31 SO) will take to the mound on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
About Dayton: The Flyers enter the week with a 16-12 overall mark after going 4-0 last week . . . Dayton is hitting .277 as a team, led by OF Bobby Getty's .372 batting average . . . The Flyers have a 5.08 team ERA . . . RHP Chris Rubio (5.30 ERA, 2-3, 37.1 IP, 22 ER, 15 BB, 24 SO) is slated to start Tuesday's game.
The Series: Ball State leads the all-time series with Dayton 17-7, including a 1-0 win April 13, 2005, in Muncie.
About IPFW: The Mastodons, who play at Central Michigan on Tuesday, enter the week with an 11-13 overall record . . . IPFW is hitting .285 as a team, led by OF Quentin Brown's .462 batting average . . . The Mastodons have a 5.98 team ERA.
The Series: BSU owns a 6-1 series edge against IPFW, including wins in the last three games . . . The Cardinals defeated the Mastodons 8-5 in Ft. Wayne on May 17, 2005.
About Kent State: The Golden Flashes, who play at Duquesne on Tuesday and host Youngstown State Wednesday, enter the week with a 16-11 overall record (6-3 MAC) . . . Kent State is hitting .313 as a team, led by INF Emmanuel Burriss' .425 batting average . . . KSU has a 4.47 team ERA . . . Starting pitchers will be Chad Wagler (3.86 ERA, 4-3, 53.2 IP, 23 ER, 14 BB, 35 SO) on Friday, Steve Ross (5.28 ERA, 3-3, 44.1 IP, 26 ER, 14 BB, 21 SO) on Saturday and John Pacella (3.19 ERA, 2-0, 31.0 IP, 11 ER, 5 BB, 25 SO) on Sunday, all right-handed.
The Series: Kent State leads the all-time series 49-38, but BSU won the last meeting between the teams on May 27, 2004, with a 4-0 victory in the MAC Tournament.
BSU Baseball All-Time: The Cardinals own a 1,283-1,197-14 (.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 118-81 (.593) overall record and a 54-28 (.659) 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.
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 . . . Senior C.J. Webb added to that with his MAC West Player of the Week (April 2) honor . . . Webb led the Cardinals with his .579 (11-for-19) batting average and eight RBI in five games.
