Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Travels To Miami For Weekend MAC Series
March 29, 2007 | Baseball
Ball State (11-13)
vs. Miami (13-9)
Fri., March 30 @ 6:30 p.m.
Sat., March 31 @ 5 p.m.
Sun., April 1 @ 1 p.m.
McKie Field
Oxford, Ohio
About Ball State
The Cardinals have won eight of their past 12 games following a split of two midweek games . . . Ball State defeated Indianapolis Tuesday before dropping a 12-4 decision Wednesday to Purdue . . . Matt Stoeklen leads the Cardinals with a .347 batting average and is tied with Kory Benbow and Ryan Chenoweth for the team lead with 14 RBI . . . Benbow tops the team with six home runs, including five in the past seven games . . . Chenoweth and Jeremy Hazelbaker are tied for second on the team with four homers each . . . In addition to Stoeklen, four other Cardinal regulars are hitting better than .250: Benbow (.296), Matt Gard (.295), Wayne Bond (.280) and Hazelbaker (.264).
On The Mound
Friday starter Brenden Stines earned his second win in his most recent start, March 24 against Akron . . . Stines leads Ball State with 30 strikeouts in 34.2 innings . . . Tyler Pritchard, who will start Saturday, has struck out 22 batters and walked nine in 30.2 innings . . . Sunday starter Ryan DeGeeter has won four consecutive starts, including an 8.1-inning outing in his most recent appearance, March 25 against Akron . . . Closer Kyle Heyne owns a MAC-leading seven saves.
Scouting Miami
The RedHawks enter the weekend riding a six-game winning streak following midweek wins over Dayton and Eastern Kentucky . . . Miami also swept its first MAC series of the year last weekend, taking three in a row from Toledo . . . Four RedHawks are hitting better than .300, led by Brandon Hillier at .372 and Eric Darlage at .370 . . . Jeff Carroll is hitting .338, followed by Jordan Petraitis at .329 . . . Hillier leads Miami with two home runs, and Chris Nadeau owns a team-best 18 RBI.
On The Mound
Friday starter John Ely owns the top ERA among the Miami starting pitchers at 3.44 . . . He has struck out a team-high 29 batters and walked 11 in 36.2 innings . . . Connor Graham, who is scheduled to take the mound Saturday, has struck out 28 batters in 28.1 innings and is tied with Ely for the team lead with three wins . . . Sunday starter Jeff Day will be making his seventh appearance and sixth start of the season and seeking his first win of the year.
The Series: Ball State trails the all-time series with Miami 65-52, dating back to a 6-1 Miami win in 1927 . . . The Cardinals have won the past three meetings after sweeping the RedHawks in Muncie in 2006 . . . Ball State defeated Miami by scores of 19-13, 5-0 and 4-2.
Freshmen Playing Long Ball
Three freshmen are leading Ball State in the home run category . . . Kory Benbow leads the way with six homers, followed by Ryan Chenoweth and Jeremy Hazelbaker with four each . . . In Saturday's 10-5 win over Akron, Benbow, Chenoweth and Hazelbaker each went deep for Ball State . . . The three have combined for 14 of the Cardinals' 20 home runs on the season . . . Another freshman, Joe Mack, got in on the action Tuesday against Indianapolis, belting his first collegiate home run - a fifth-inning grand slam that provided just enough cushion for Ball State to earn an 8-7 win.
Benbow Going Deep
After hitting one home run in Ball State's first 17 games, Kory Benbow has homered five times in the last seven contests . . . Benbow blasted two home runs March 18 versus Bowling Green in the Ball State Invitational and then added two more last 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 . . . Benbow added another homer Tuesday against Indianapolis.
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 and added another in Tuesday's win over Indianapolis . . . 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 . . . He threw the final inning Tuesday against Indianapolis . . . Heyne now owns a MAC-leading seven saves on the season, and he has saved 21 games in his career . . . Heyne is now three 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 . . . Matt Stoeklen currently leads the team with a .307 batting average, but he is just one of five Cardinal regulars hitting better than .250 . . . Kory Benbow is hitting .296, followed by Matt Gard at .295, Wayne Bond at .280 and Jeremy Hazelbaker at .264 . . . Zach Dygert and Eric Earnhart are close behind at .245 and .243, respectively.
Streaking
Jeremy Hazelbaker enters the weekend riding an eight-game hitting streak, one game shy of Ball State's season-high . . . Matt Gard and Matt Stoeklen each compiled hitting streaks of nine games earlier this season . . . Kory Benbow is close on Hazelbaker's heels, having hit safely in seven games . . . Additionally, Gard and Zach Dygert are each riding five-game hitting streaks.
8-of-12
After taking two out of three games from Akron over the weekend and splitting a pair of midweek games, Ball State has now won eight out of its past 12 games . . . After starting the season 3-9, the Cardinals' recent string of good play has improved their record to 11-13, just two games shy of .500.
Up Next
Following the weekend series with Miami, Ball State returns to Muncie to host in-state rival Indiana Wednesday at 3 p.m. . . . The Cardinals then head back to the road to continue MAC play next weekend at Ohio.
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 over Kentucky.
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 nearby at Wapahani High School.
Among Best In 64-Team Era
Ball State ranks as one of the top 64 baseball programs in the nation since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999, according to Baseball America . . . In the magazine's ranking system, Ball State has accumulated 58 total points over the past eight seasons to rank 62nd since the expansion of the NCAA Tournament . . . The Cardinals own a .618 (283-175) winning percentage since 1999, and the program made its first NCAA Regional appearance in 2006 . . . Ball State has had three players named Baseball America All-Americans in the past eight years . . . During that time period, the Cardinals have had 10 players drafted in the first 10 rounds of the draft . . . Of those players, Larry Bigbie, Bryan Bullington, Brad Snyder and Justin Wechsler have each spent time on Major League Baseball rosters.
Beefing Up The Home Schedule
After playing just 17 home games in 2006, Ball State is slated to play 24 games at Ball Diamond in 2007 . . . In addition to playing 15-of-27 Mid-American Conference games in Muncie, the Cardinals have also hosted Purdue and will host Indiana.
