Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Opens MAC Play This Weekend As It Hosts Akron
March 19, 2009 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend as the Cardinals host MAC East Division foe Akron in a three-game series ... The Cardinals enter the weekend with a 9-8 overall record after dropping back-to-back games to Chicago State and most recently at Notre Dame ... Friday and Sunday's games will be broadcast by 91.3 WCRD FM and online at www.ballstatesports.com ... The Cardinals are led by seventh-year head coach Greg Beals ... Akron enters the weekend with a 3-15 record on the year ... The Zips are coming off of a 18-11 victory over Youngstown State Wednesday ... Akron is led by fourth-year head coach Pat Bangtson.
MAC Openers . . .
This weekend marks the 36th season of Mid-American Conference baseball for Ball State ... The Cardinals own a 52-49 record all-time in MAC season-opening series dating back to 1974 ... Ball State has been strong recently in MAC opening series as the Cardinals are 10-2 over the past four season in MAC opening weekends ... In fact, since the 1995 season the Cardinals are 30-10 in conference opening weekends ... Ball State posted a three-game series sweep at Kent State last season to open conference play.
This weekend marks the fourth time Ball State has opened league play against the Akron Zips ... The Cardinals are 5-3 all-time in season-opening series against Akron as Ball State claimed a 2-1 series win in 2006 and 2007 while the two teams split a two-game series in 2000.
Series History . . .
Ball State and Akron have met 37 times prior to this weekend's series with the Cardinals owning a 22-15 advantage in the all-time series ... Ball State has won four out of the last five meetings against the Zips, including winning two out of three in 2007 at home ... The Cardinals and Zips did not meet last season due to the rotating MAC schedule ... Ball State is 9-5 all-time against the Zips at Ball Diamond.
Last time the two teams met, the Cardinals claimed a 10-5 victory in game one of the series, Akron took game two 13-5 while the Cardinals claimed game three 6-4 ... Kory Benbow led the Cardinals' attack as he posted a .444 (four-of-nine) for the weekend, including a pair of home runs ... Jeremy Hazelbaker posted a .385 (five-of-13) in the three games and drove in six runs.
Cardinals Take Honors . . .
Junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker and junior right-hander Brad Piatt have been named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player and Pitcher Of The Week, respectively ... This marks the fourth straight week that Ball State has earned MAC West Player of the Week honors and the first time that a Cardinal has claimed MAC West Pitcher of the Week accolades this season.
Hazelbaker earns his second MAC West weekly honor this season after as he led the Cardinals to a 4-2 record last week against Southern Illinois and Chicago State ... He posted a .500 batting average (10-of-20) and tallied a .630 on-base percentage for the week as he reached base 17 times in the six games ... Hazelbaker also recorded seven stolen bases on eight attempts for the week ... He scored nine runs in the six games and posted four multiple-hit games on the week
Piatt earns his first MAC West weekly honor of his career after he improved to 3-0 on the season as he worked seven shutout innings in the Cardinals' victory over Chicago State ... He limited the Cougars to just one hit over seven innings as he struck out a career-high eight batters ... He only walked one batter in the victory as the Cougars didn't have a base runner past second base and only had one base runner reach second base.
This Weekend's Starters . . .
Ball State will send three right-handers to the mound this weekend against Akron in Brad Piatt, Brenden Stines and Kolbrin Vitek ... Akron will counter with right-handers Tom Farmer and Frank Turocy while the Zips have not named a starter for Sunday's game.
Piatt brings a 3-0 record into the weekend and owns a 1.71 ERA ... He recently was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Pitcher of the Week after working seven shutout innings against Chicago State ... He struck out a career-high eight batters ... He is holding opponents to a .200 batting average.
Stines (0-2) will be making his fourth start and seventh appearance of the season Saturday afternoon ... He owns a 4.80 ERA on the year as he has worked 15.0 innings ... He worked one inning Tuesday at Notre Dame in relief and made his last start in the Cardinals' loss at Southern Illinois.
Vitek (1-1) gets the nod Sunday afternoon in the series finale ... He brings a 4.96 ERA into the contest as he will be making his fifth start of the season ... He posted a strong outing Tuesday evening at Notre Dame as he worked 5.0 innings and allowed just one earned run ... He struck out seven batters without walking anyone in the no decision.
Farmer brings a 1-2 record with a 6.95 ERA into the weekend ... He has worked 22.0 innings this year ... In his most recent outing, he pitched 6.0 innings at Illinois as he allowed four runs on seven hits ... He walked four batters and struck out two in the loss.
Turocy owns a 0-4 mark on the year with a 10.90 ERA ... He is making his fifth start of the season as he has worked 17.1 innings ... He picked up the loss at Illinois last Friday as he was charged with eight runs in 5.0 innings of work as he allowed eight hits. s
Scouting Ball State . . .
Ball State enters the weekend with a 9-8 record on the season and have dropped two straight heading into Mid-American Conference play ... The Cardinals are batting .316 this season and have scored 118 runs ... BSU has posted a .514 slugging percentage as it has tallied 40 doubles, seven triples and 20 home runs ... The Cardinals' pitching staff owns a 3.97 ERA on the season as it is holding opponents to a .268 batting average ... BSU has struck out 113 batters while walking 63.
Junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker leads the team in batting with a .437 average ... Hazelbaker has scored a team-high 23 runs and tallied a team-high 31 hits ... Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen owns a .356 batting average and is second on the team with four home runs ... Junior left fielder Kory Benbow has driven in a team-high 22 runs as he owns a team-best five home runs.
In the bullpen, right-hander Aaron Hammons has worked 9.2 innings of scoreless baseball this season in eight appearances ... Hammons has struck out 16 batters while walking only three ... Left-hander Tom Mueller has made 10 appearances and owns a 0.75 ERA on the year ... He has worked 12.0 innings but has walked nine batters.
Scouting Akron . . .
Akron enters the weekend with a 3-15 record on the year ... The Zips are batting .293 on the season as they have scored 115 runs ... Akron owns a .469 slugging percentage on the strength of 43 doubles, seven triples and 20 home runs ... On the mound, the Zips own a 7.55 ERA on the year as opponents are batting .336 against Akron.
Offensively, Brandon White leads the team with a .365 batting average and has driven in 11 runs ... Kevin Haas adds a .342 average with a team-high 27 hits ... Ryan Frazee leads the team with six home runs.
In the bullpen, Chris Bassitt leads the team with eight appearances as he has worked 15.1 innings and owns a 5.87 ERA ... Benjamin Danziger has made six appearances with a 5.14 ERA in 21.0 innings of work.
Five-Finger Discount . . .
The Cardinals lead the Mid-American Conference this season in stolen bases ... Through 17 games, Ball State has recorded 39 stolen bases on 45 attempts ... In comparison, Miami is second in the MAC in steals with 23 ... Ball State also owns the top stolen base tandem in the conference this season in junior Jeremy Hazelbaker and senior Nate Fields ... The two have combined to steal 25 bases in 28 attempts at the top of the Cardinals' lineup ... Hazelbaker leads the team with 13 steals in 16 attempts while Fields is a perfect 12-of-12 in stolen base attempts ... The two are ranked first and second in the MAC in stolen bases, respectively.
Using The Long Ball . . .
Last season, Ball State tied a single season record for home runs with 95 long balls on the year ... The Cardinals prepared for a downturn in the power department this season after losing 46 home runs to either the Major League Baseball Draft or graduation ... Through the first 18 games though, Ball State has pounded out 20 home runs to lead the Mid-American Conference in that category ... Eight different players have hit the long ball this season ... Junior left fielder Kory Benbow leads the team with five home runs while freshman Ian Nielsen and sophomore Kolbrin Vitek have each have tallied four home runs.
Gridiron To The Diamond . . .
Ball State received an addition to the pitching staff this spring from an unlikely source, the Mid-American Conference West Division champion Cardinal football team ... Redshirt freshman Perci Garner joined the Ball State baseball program in January after serving as the Cardinals' third string quarterback this fall ... Garner has already appeared in five games this spring, working 4.0 innings and allowing one run ... He has tallied 10 strikeouts this season, including a three-strikeout, one inning performance Sunday against Chicago State.
Garner was a two-sport star at Dover High School in Ohio ... He was named the East Central Ohio League Pitcher of the Year as he posted a 5-3 record with a stellar 0.83 ERA.
Cardinals Take Honors . . .
Ball State has earned Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week the first three weeks of the season as freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen earned the honor the first week, junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker earned the honor the second week and junior left fielder Kory Benbow earned the accolade the third week of the season.
Nielsen posted a .588 batting average (10-of-17) in the four games and recorded a .650 on-base percentage as he reached base 13 times ... He tallied two home runs on the weekend, including a solo shot in his first career collegiate at bat. Nielsen drove in six runs and scored four times while posting a 1.000 slugging percentage ... He reached base at least four times in three of the games on the weekend, including a four-hit output in the Cardinals' victory in game one of the doubleheader.
Hazelbaker led the Cardinals to a 2-0 weekend and the top spot at the 2009 Austin Peay Baseball Invitational as he posted a .600 batting average (six-of-10) for the weekend ... He drove in six runs, scored four runs and posted a 1.200 slugging percentage in the two victories.
Against Big Ten foe Indiana, he tallied his first home run of the season as he recorded a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Cardinals a heart stopping 5-4 victory ... He followed that up with a four-hit performance against Austin Peay as he drove in a career-high five runs in the victory.
Benbow posted a .600 batting average (nine-of-15) in the Cardinals' four-game series against Big 12 power Missouri ... He tallied a series-best nine hits in the four games as he drove in five runs and scored four runs ... He tallied 17 total bases on the weekend for a 1.133 slugging percentage while notching two doubles and two home runs.
In the second game of the series, Benbow tied his career-high with five hits and reached base a career-high six times in the Cardinals' victory ... With the weekend, he raised his batting average 159 points to .359 on the year.
Vitek Named To Watch List . . .
Sophomore pitcher/third baseman Kolbrin Vitek has been named to the 2009 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award Watch List, The College Baseball Foundation announced ... The Wallace Award is presented annually to the nation's top collegiate baseball player in conjunction with the College Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. ... The award is named after former Texas Tech star Brooks Wallace ... Vitek is one of five players from the Mid-American Conference on the watch list.
Vitek made an impact on the Cardinals both on the mound and at the plate last season as a true freshman ... He spent the entire season in the Cardinals' weekend rotation and served as Ball State's usual designated hitter in the games he did not pitch ... He was named to Collegiate Baseball's Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team as a “multiple position athlete.”
As the Cardinals' Sunday starter for most of the season, Vitek posted a team-best 6-1 record with a 5.65 ERA ... He led Ball State with 69 strikeouts while walking just 19, and he ranked second in the Mid-American Conference with 9.51 strikeouts per nine innings ... Ball State won 11 of the 13 games he started.
In addition to his 13 starts on the mound, Vitek started 31 games as Ball State's designated hitter and three games as the Cardinals' first baseman ... At the plate, he logged a .305 batting average with five home runs and 24 RBI ... He also added four doubles and three triples.
Cardinals Picked Second . . .
Ball State was picked to finish second in the Mid-American Conference West Division in the preseason coaches' poll.
Ball State returns 16 letterwinners from last season's 28-25 team that posted a 12-11 mark in MAC play ... The Cardinals are led by second team All-MAC catcher Zach Dygert who posted a .293 batting average last season which included 13 home runs and 38 RBI ... Also, senior second baseman Nate Fields returns to the club after leading the team last season with a .331 batting average with nine home runs and 11 doubles.
Sophomore pitcher/third baseman Kolbrin Vitek returns after earning Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball ... Vitek was named to the Wallace Award Player of the Year Watch List this season as he is coming off a dual threat freshman campaign ... He posted a .305 batting average in 34 games in the field while turning in a 6-1 record with 69 strikeouts to just 19 walks on the mound for the Cardinals.
Mueller Named Captain . . .
Senior left-hander Tom Mueller has been named the Cardinals' 2009 team captain ... Mueller, a native of Westfield, Ind., tied a Ball State single season record last year with 30 appearances on the mound ... He made 29 relief appearances and one start ... He posted a 5-0 record on the season with a 4.37 ERA ... He worked 35.0 innings and tallied 25 strikeouts compared to just 11 walks.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State will head to Terre Haute Wednesday for a midweek matchup against Indiana State ... The Cardinals return home next weekend with a three-game series against MAC favorite Kent State.
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