Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Team Set For Busy Week
May 08, 2006 | Baseball
This Week in Ball State Baseball: Ball State hosts Indiana State for a non-conference contest Tuesday at 3 p.m. . . . The Cardinals then travel to Cincinnati on Wednesday to make up a game that was rained out in March . . . The contest against the Bearcats is slated to start at 6:30 p.m. . . . Tuesday's and Wednesday's games can be heard live on 91.3 WCRD or on the Internet at www.wcrd.net or www.ballstatesports.com . . . Ball State wraps up the week with a three-game series at MAC West foe Northern Illinois . . . The first pitch for Friday's game is set for 3 p.m., while the Saturday and Sunday games will begin a 1 p.m.
About the Cardinals: Ball State swept a three-game series with Toledo over the weekend to move into second place in the Mid-American Conference West Division with a record of 27-18 (13-7 MAC) . . . The Cardinals are now 13-2 at Ball Diamond this season and 9-2 at home in MAC games . . . 1B Brad Miller went 6-for-12 at the plate in the Toledo series to raise his team-leading batting average to .328 . . . Three other Cardinal regulars are batting at least .300: RF Justin Rogers (.321), CF Mike Sullivan (.303) and 3B C.J. Webb (.300) . . . RHP Ryan DeGeeter threw seven scoreless innings Sunday against Toledo in his 11th start of the season to lower his ERA to 3.56, the best among Cardinal starters . . . LHP Kory Bucklew threw one scoreless inning in relief, dropping his ERA to a team-best 1.54. The projected starters for the weekend series at Northern Illinois are Ben Snyder (Friday), Tyler Pritchard (Saturday) and DeGeeter (Sunday).
Offensive Explosion: In Ball State's three-game sweep of Toledo - - the club's second MAC home sweep of the season - - the offense exploded for 36 total runs . . . The 36 runs are the most in a league series for the Cardinals this season, topping the previous mark of 28 vs. Miami . . . BSU also recorded at least 10 hits in each game, marking the first time this season BSU has reached double-figure hits in all three games of a MAC series.
Home Run Watch: Senior Brad Miller ripped his 16th home run of the season Sunday against Toledo, topping his previous season-best of 15, which he accomplished during his sophomore year . . . The MAC leader in HR's, Miller has amassed 45 career home runs through 214 games, including 16 in 45 games this season . . . Miller is just four long balls away from tying Matt Wood (1998-01) for the BSU career mark at 49 and seven away from tying Thomas Howard (1984-86) for the single-season record of 23, which was set in 1986.
Run, Run, Run: Senior Mike Sullivan scored six runs in Ball State's series with Toledo to raise his career total to 186, just nine 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 has scored 45 runs this season, 12 shy of his personal-best of 57 last season in 56 games.
About Indiana State: The Sycamores have dropped their last six games to fall to 19-27 on the season . . . Indiana State was swept over the weekend by Southern Illinois by scores of 8-7, 4-2 and 9-1 . . . The Sycamores are hitting .292 as a team, led by C Nevin Ashley's .404 batting average and eight home runs . . . RHP Chad Dawson is slated to throw for the Sycamores Tuesday . . . Dawson is 1-5 on the season with a 5.62 ERA, 26 strikeouts and 21 walks in 41.2 innings of work . . . Indiana State leads the all-time series 82-48, but Ball State has won the last two meetings.
About Cincinnati: Cincinnati enters Wednesday's contest with a 30-18 record, including a 20-4 mark in home games . . . The Bearcats dropped two of three games at Villanova over the weekend, winning the middle game 5-1 and losing the first game 7-6 and the final game 5-2 . . . INF Josh Harrison (.347) leads five Cincinnati regulars with .300+ batting averages . . . 1B Logan Parker is the Bearcats' top power hitter with nine home runs and 56 RBI . . . RHP Steve Blevins has logged the most innings on the mound for Cincinnati with 82.2, and he is 8-3 with a 5.01 ERA . . . RHP A.J. Upton leads the Bearcats with six saves . . . Wednesday's meeting will be the 25th all time between the two teams . . . Cincinnati leads the series 13-10-1, and the Bearcats have won the last two meetings.
About Northern Illinois: The Huskies went 2-3 last week to drop to 23-26 (8-13 MAC) . . . Northern Illinois won on the road at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Northwestern before dropping three straight games at Western Michigan over the weekend . . . OF Brian Toner leads the Huskies at the plate with a .362 batting average, followed by IF Scott Simon at .328 . . . Relief pitcher Matt German owns the team's best ERA at 0.53 . . . Three pitchers (Nick Hall, Matt Jernstad and Brian Smith) are tied for the team lead with four wins . . . Ball State leads the all-time series 27-22-1, including a three-game sweep of the Huskies last year in Dekalb.
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 129-85 (.603) overall record and a 62-32 (.660) 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.
