Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Begins Eight-game Homestand
April 24, 2006 | Baseball
Baseball: April 24 Weekly Release
This week in Ball State Baseball: After seven straight road games, the Cardinals begin an eight-game homestand Wednesday against Butler University at 3 p.m. . . . Ball State then hosts Western Michigan University for a Mid-American Conference weekend series . . . Friday's game is slated for a 3 p.m. start, while first pitch on Saturday and Sunday will be 1 p.m. . . . All four games can be heard live on 91.3 WCRD or on the internet by visiting www.wcrd.net or www.ballstatesports.com, where live stats will also be available.
About the Cardinals: Ball State enters the week with a 21-18 overall record (8-7 Mid-American Conference) -- tied with Western Michigan and Northern Illinois for third in the West Division -- after going 2-2 in four games last week . . . The Cardinals defeated Xavier 3-2 on Tuesday before going 1-2 in a series against Eastern Michigan . . . BSU was shut out 8-0 Friday night by the Eagles, then turned around and posted its own shutout with a 7-0 win in game two, but fell 5-4 in 10 innings during game three on Sunday . . . 1B Brad Miller batted .333 (5-for-15) with four home runs and six RBI last week . . . Miller managed a 1.133 slugging percentage, while tagging 17 total bases and scoring five runs . . . RHP Tyler Pritchard combined with RHP Richie Fralick to post BSU's second shutout of the season in the second game against EMU . . . Pritchard threw five innings and recorded five strikeouts, while walking just one batter and allowing six hits to improve his record to 4-2 . . . Fralick finished the final four innings to pick up his second save of the year . . . OF Mike Sullivan's hitting streak ended at 14 games (March 31-April 18), tying OF Justin Rogers for Ball State's best mark this year . . . The Cardinals are hitting .269 as a team and have a 4.53 team ERA . . . RHP Jay Broughton (6.06 ERA, 2-1, 35.2 IP, 24 ER, 19 BB, 27 SO) is the probable starter for Wednesday's game, while LHP Ben Snyder (4.57 ERA, 3-4, 63.0 IP, 32 ER, 27 BB, 63 SO), RHP Tyler Pritchard (4.86 ERA, 4-2, 50.0 IP, 27 ER, 20 BB, 31 SO) and RHP Ryan DeGeeter (4.02 ERA, 2-4, 53.2 IP, 24 ER, 20 BB, 36 SO) will start Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Home Run Watch: Senior Brad Miller, the MAC leader in HR's, has amassed 44 career home runs through 208 games played, including 15 in 39 games this season . . . Miller is just five long balls away from tying Matt Wood (1998-01) for the BSU career mark at 49 and eight away from tying Thomas Howard (1984-86) for the single-season record, which was set in 1986 . . . His 15 homers this season tie a personal best set during his sophomore year.
About Butler: The Bulldogs enter the week with a 15-24 overall record (8-13 Horizon) after going 1-4 last week, including a series sweep by Illinois-Chicago . . . INF Stephen Gill leads the team with his .331 batting average . . . LHP Bryan Bokowy leads the squad with a 3.43 ERA . . . Butler is hitting .274 as a team, while the pitching staff has a 5.22 ERA . . . LHP Craig Costello (6.75 ERA, 1-3, 22.2 IP, 17 ER, 19 BB, 17 SO) or RHP Ryan Kruszka (5.11 ERA, 3-2, 24.2 IP, 14 ER, 21 BB, 14 SO) will likely start on the mound for Butler.
The Series: Ball State owns a 65-43 all-time series edge against Butler, including a 10-3 victory on April 27, 2005, in Indianapolis, Ind. . . . Richie Fralick earned the win, while Brian Meyer scored the game-winning run on a Jon Dollinger RBI walk.
About Western Michigan: The Broncos enter the week with a 20-15 overall record (8-7 MAC) after going 1-2 against Toledo last weekend . . . C Mark Abro leads the team with his .331 batting average . . . Of the starters, LHP Dan O'Brien has a team-leading 2.60 ERA . . . WMU is batting .287 as a team, while the pitching staff has a 4.06 ERA . . . O'Brien (2.60 ERA, 5-2, 62.1 IP, 18 ER, 11 BB, 64 SO) is the projected starter for Friday, while RHP Mark Rasmussen (5.48 ERA, 4-1, 42.2 IP, 26 ER, 13 BB, 25 SO) is slated for Saturday and RHP Ethan Hollingsworth (3.67 ERA, 6-2, 56.1 IP, 23 ER, 23 BB, 51 SO) for Sunday.
The Series: Western Michigan leads the all-time series 81-54, but the Cardinals have wins in the last three meetings . . . On April 22, 2005, the lone meeting last season, Ball State took a 3-2 extra-inning win in Kalamazoo, Mich. . . . Fralick earned the win, while Justin Rogers scored the game-winning run on an RBI-groundout by Chris Pestle.
BSU Baseball All-Time: The Cardinals own a 1,288-1,201-14 (.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 123-85 (.591) overall record and a 57-32 (.640) 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.
