Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Hosts Toledo for MAC Weekend Series
May 01, 2006 | Baseball
Baseball: May 1 Weekly Release (PDF)
This week in Ball State Baseball: The Cardinals host the University of Toledo 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 three 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 ranked third in the Mid-American Conference West Division with a 24-18 overall record (10-7 MAC) after going 3-0 last week . . . The Cardinals defeated in-state rival Butler 8-3 on Wednesday, then took the first two games against division foe Western Michigan (6-5, 10-5) before Sunday's game was rained out . . . With the wins over WMU, Ball State won its first series since a home sweep of Miami (March 31-April 2) . . . The Cardinals are now 10-2 at Ball Diamond this season, including a 6-2 home record against MAC opponents . . . A pair of Muncie Central H.S. graduates top the offensive charts, with 1B Brad Miller leading the team in batting average (.316) and DH Matt Gard right behind in second (.315) . . . Of the regular starting pitchers, RHP Ryan DeGeeter leads the team with a 4.02 ERA in 10 appearances, while LHP Kory Bucklew leads the relievers with his 1.58 ERA . . . LHP Ben Snyder (4.76 ERA, 4-4, 70.0 IP, 37 ER, 30 BB, 70 SO), RHP Tyler Pritchard (5.40 ERA, 4-2, 53.1 IP, 32 ER, 20 BB, 34 SO) and 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 211 games played, including 15 in 42 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.
Run, Run, Run: Senior Mike Sullivan (180) is just 15 runs shy of setting a new BSU career record for runs scored. Jeremy Ridley (1997-00) currently owns the mark with 194 career runs . . . Sullivan's personal-best of 57 runs came in 56 games last season.
About Toledo: The Rockets, riding a four-game losing streak, enter the week ranked sixth in the MAC West Division with a 20-21 overall record (7-11 MAC) . . . Toledo defeated IPFW 3-2 on Tuesday before falling 23-4 at Michigan State on Wednesday . . . UT was then swept by Central Michigan over the weekend (4-5, 1-6, 5-6) . . . INF Jason Watson leads the team with his .357 batting average, while RHP Steve Wenning has a team-best 0.71 ERA . . . The Rockets are hitting .282 as a team, while the pitching staff has a 4.67 ERA . . . LHP's Joe Welsh (4.29 ERA, 3-6, 63.0 IP, 30 ER, 33 BB, 34 SO), Kyle Rawlings (3.10 ERA, 6-2, 61.0 IP, 21 ER, 22 BB, 30 SO) and Levi Curry (4.37 ERA, 4-3, 55.2 IP, 27 ER, 16 BB, 23 SO) are the projected starters for Toledo this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The Series: Ball State owns a 51-42 all-time series edge over Toledo . . . The Rockets took the last three games of a four-game series with the Cardinals in 2003, the last time these teams squared off . . . BSU won game one of a May 3 doubleheader (3-1), but dropped game two (5-6) . . . Ball State lost both games of the May 4 doubleheader (1-2, 5-6).
BSU Baseball All-Time: The Cardinals own a 1,291-1,201-14 (.518) 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 126-85 (.597) overall record and a 59-32 (.648) 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.
