Ball State University Athletics
Cards Host Indianapolis and Purdue In Midweek Tilts
March 26, 2007 | Baseball
Ball State (10-12) vs.
Indianapolis (10-13)
Tues., March 27 @ 3 p.m.
Ball State (10-12) vs.
Purdue (9-8)
Wed., March 28 @ 3 p.m.
Both games at Ball Diamond in Muncie, Ind.
Radio: WCRD 91.3 FM
Live Stats at ballstatesports.com
About Ball State
The Cardinals enter this week's contests having taken two out of three games from Akron over the weekend in the first Mid-American Conference series of the season . . . Right fielder Kory Benbow hit two home runs in the series and leads the team with five on the year . . . His .297 batting average is tied for second on the team with third baseman Matt Gard, trailing only Eric Earnhart at .300 . . . Outfielder Ryan Chenoweth leads the Cardinals with 14 RBI, and his four home runs trail only Benbow . . . On the mound, Richie Fralick will make his eighth appearance of the season and his second midweek start Tuesday against Indianapolis . . . Brad Piatt will make his seventh appearance and his third midweek start Wednesday versus Purdue.
Scouting Indianapolis
The Greyhounds won three of four games over the weekend at Wisconsin-Parkside . . . Chase Wilson and Jason Beck lead the Indianapolis regulars with .333 batting averages . . . Kyle Stephenson enters the week hitting .312, and Justin Russell is batting .308, giving the Greyhounds four starters hitting better than .300 . . . Aryn Ross leads Indianapolis with two home runs, and Stephenson tops the team with 14 RBI.
The Series: Ball State owns a 33-19 edge in the all-time series against Indianapolis, dating back to 1924 . . . The Cardinals have won the past 11 meetings, but the teams have not met since 1995 . . . Ball State earned two wins that year, defeating Indianapolis 4-0 and 12-5.
Scouting Purdue
The Boilermakers won two out of three games over the weekend at Western Illinois . . . Ryne White leads the Purdue starters with a .420 batting average and 17 RBI . . . Four other Boilermaker starters are hitting better than .300: Jordan Comadena (.397), Kyle Reesing (.321), Alex Jaffee (.318) and Spencer Ingaldson (.309) . . . Comadena tops Purdue with four home runs, followed by White and Andy Preston with three each.
The Series: Ball State trails Purdue 40-33-2 in the all-time series, dating back to 1930 . . . The Cardinals, however, have won four in a row against the Boilermakers, including a 3-2 victory last season in West Lafayette.
Freshmen Playing Long Ball
In Saturday's 10-5 win over Akron, three Ball State freshmen hit home runs . . . Kory Benbow, Ryan Chenoweth and Jeremy Hazelbaker each went deep for Ball State . . . The three freshmen are currently the top three home run hitters on the team . . . Benbow leads the Cardinals with five homers, followed by Chenoweth with four and Hazelbaker with three.
Benbow Going Deep
After hitting one home run in Ball State's first 17 games, Kory Benbow has homered four times in the last five contests . . . Benbow blasted two home runs March 18 versus Bowling Green in the Ball State Invitational and then added two more this weekend against Akron . . . The freshman right fielder went deep Saturday in Ball State's 10-5 win and then belted a homer to straight away center field in Ball State's 6-4 win in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader.
DeGeeter Makes It Four In A Row
Senior pitcher Ryan DeGeeter earned his fourth consecutive win Sunday against Akron . . . After giving up a run in each of the first two innings, DeGeeter settled in against the Zips . . . From the third inning through the eighth, DeGeeter allowed only three baserunners, and none reached second base . . . He retired the side in order four times during that six-inning stretch . . . For the game, DeGeeter allowed four runs on six hits in 8.1 innings . . . His win streak started March 4 at Austin Peay and includes wins over Bethune-Cookman and Bowling Green . . . DeGeeter's four wins lead all pitchers in the MAC.
The Save Machine
Junior closer Kyle Heyne picked up two saves over the weekend in the series with Akron . . . Heyne threw 2.1 innings Saturday to earn the save and then came back to get the final out in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader . . . Heyne now owns a MAC-leading six saves on the season, and he has saved 20 games in his career . . . Heyne is now four saves short of tying Ron Schrock (1983-85) for the most career saves in school history.
Maintaining Balance
The Ball State offense prides itself on having balance throughout the lineup . . . Eric Earnhart currently leads the team with a .300 batting average, but he is just one of seven Cardinal regulars hitting between .250 and .300 . . . Matt Gard and Kory Benbow trail Earnhart at .297, followed by Matt Stoeklen at .296, Wayne Bond at .270, Ryan Chenoweth at .254 and Jeremy Hazelbaker at .253.
Streaking
Three Ball State players enter Tuesday's game with Indianapolis with hitting streaks of five games or longer . . . Jeremy Hazelbaker has hit safely in six consecutive games, followed by Eric Earnhart and Kory Benbow, who each own five-game hitting streaks . . . Matt Gard and Zach Dygert have each hit safely in four straight . . . The longest streak of the season for a Cardinal player is nine games, which has been accomplished by both Gard and Matt Stoeklen.
Seven Of Ten
After taking two out of three games from Akron over the weekend, Ball State has now won seven out of its past 10 games . . . After starting the season 3-9, the Cardinals recent string of good play has improved their record to 10-12, with a chance to reach .500 this week.
Up Next
Following the two midweek contests this week, Ball State travels to Oxford, Ohio, for a three-game set at Miami starting Friday . . . It will be the Cardinals' second MAC series of the season . . . Ball State will then host another Big Ten foe, Indiana, on April 4.
Cardinals Tabbed Second In MAC West
Ball State was picked to finish second in the Mid-American Conference West Division by the league's coaches . . . The Cardinals were picked in the preseason poll to finish behind Central Michigan in the West Division, which is exactly where last year's team ended the regular season . . . The 2006 Cardinals, however, defeated the division champion Chippewas on their way to winning the first MAC Tournament Championship in school history . . . Since the conference went to a divisional format in 1998, Ball State has never finished worse than second in the West, and the Cardinals have won the division six times . . . In 2006, Ball State finished the season 38-22 and 16-9 in the MAC.
WATCH Out For Rogers
Junior outfielder Justin Rogers has been placed on the 2007 Wallace Watch, a list of 148 student-athletes eligible for the Brooks Wallace Award, presented to the College Baseball Foundation's player of the year . . . Rogers returns as Ball State's leading hitter in 2007 after batting .347 as a sophomore on Ball State's 2006 NCAA Regional team . . . He logged 13 doubles, five home runs and 44 RBI last season on his way to earning All-MAC Second Team honors . . . Rogers hit .560 over the Cardinals' final 14 games, helping Ball State go 12-2 during that stretch to lock up a second place finish in the MAC West Division.
And Heyne, Too
Junior closer Kyle Heyne has been named to the preseason watch list for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in Division I baseball . . . Heyne ranked second in the MAC with 12 saves in 2006 and finished the season with a team-best 2.11 ERA . . . He led the Cardinals with 29 appearances and struck out 46 batters while walking only five in 42.2 innings of work . . . He earned the win in Ball State's 2006 MAC Tournament semifinal victory over Kent State and then earned the save in the championship game rematch with the Golden Flashes . . . He then picked up another save in the Cardinals' first round NCAA Regional win.
New Faces
Ball State welcomes 14 newcomers to its program for 2007 . . . Nine true freshmen and five transfers are new to the 2007 team . . . Of the 14 newcomers, 13 come from the state of Indiana . . . First baseman Matt Stoeklen, from Northglenn, Colo., is the only newcomer from outside the Hoosier State . . . Those newcomers join 20 returning players for Ball State, 14 of whom earned letters in 2006 . . . The pitching staff boasts the highest number of returning players with 11, including 2006 weekend starters Tyler Pritchard and Ryan DeGeeter and 2006 mid-week starter Jay Broughton.
Local Products
Of the 32 players on Ball State's roster, 22 are from the state of Indiana, including 13 of the 14 newcomers to the program this season . . . Of those 22, five are from the Muncie area . . . Senior second baseman Matt Gard played locally at Muncie Central High School, while freshman infielder Shannon McCormick played high school baseball at Burris in Muncie . . . Freshmen Kory Benbow and Nick Zimmerman were high school teammates at nearby Cowan High School, and freshman Jeremy Hazelbaker played at nearby Wapahani High School.
