Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Heads To Louisville For A Battle Of Cardinals
March 31, 2009 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State steps out of Mid-American Conference play Wednesday evening as the Cardinals battle Louisville at Jim Patterson Stadium ... Ball State enters the contest with a 12-11 overall record after splitting a weather-shortened series against Mid-American Conference preseason favorite Kent State last weekend ... Ball State is led by seventh-year head coach Greg Beals ... Louisville enters the contest with a 17-8 record after dropping two out of three at Seton Hall last weekend ... The Cardinals have a midweek contest at Purdue Tuesday afternoon ... Louisville is led by third-year head coach Dan McDonnell.
Series History . . .
Wednesday's game is the 18th meeting all-time between Ball State and Louisville ... Louisville leads the battle of Cardinals by a 10-7 margin as it has won the last three meetings ... Wednesday's game will mark the 17th time Ball State has travelled to Louisville in series history with one additional neutral site contest ... Last season, Louisville claimed a 9-3 victory May 13, 2008 ... Ball State scored first in its final non-conference game of the season but Louisville broke the game open with a pair of three-run innings ... BSU was led by Dean Anna and T.J. Baumet who each tallied a pair of hits ... Louisville was paced by Chris Dominguez who blasted two home runs and tallied a game-high six RBI.
200 Victories . . .
Seventh-year head coach Greg Beals joined some elite company in Ball State baseball history as he became the fifth coach to reach 200 career victories with the Cardinals' 4-2 win over Kent State Saturday ... Beals (200-159) joins former Cardinal coaches Pat Quinn (323 wins), Rich Maloney (256), Paul Williams (209) and Bob Rickel (209) ... Beals is the second-fastest coach to reach 200 victories as he reached his milestone in 359 games ... Maloney was the fastest to reach 200 wins as he did it in 312 games, followed by Rickel (398 games), Williams (409) and Quinn (427).
Hazelbaker Earns MAC Honors, Again . . .
For the third time in the first six weeks of the season, junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker has been named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week ...Hazelbaker is the only player in the MAC to earn multiple Player of the Week honors this season ... Ball State has now received a weekly honor from the MAC all six weeks of the 2009 season, having picked up five MAC West Player of the Week honors and two Pitcher of the Week accolades.
Hazelbaker led the Cardinals to a series split against preseason MAC favorite Kent State has he posted a .750 batting average (six-of-eight) in the two games ... He became the first Cardinal to hit for the cycle since Ben Schroeder accomplished the feat April 20, 2003 in Ball State's 10-3 victory over Illinois State ... He accomplished the feat Friday afternoon in his first four at-bats of the game as he tallied a first inning double, a second inning home run, a fourth inning single and a fifth inning triple as he reached base five times against the Golden Flashes ... He posted a 1.625 slugging percentage in the series as he reached base eight times in the two games and hit two doubles, a triple and a home run.
Leading The Way . . .
Junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker, the Cardinals' leadoff hitter, enters Wednesday's game second in the Mid-American Conference in batting with a .443 average ... Hazelbaker leads the league in hits (43), runs (30), triples (4) and on-base percentage (.526) ... He is second in total bases (65) and stolen bases (13), while ranking sixth in slugging percentage (.670).
Winning The Arms Race . . .
Ball State has enjoyed one of the top pitching staffs in the Mid-American Conference this season as the Cardinals lead the MAC with a 4.09 staff ERA ... BSU is holding opponents to a .275 batting average, which is second-lowest in the league this season ... Junior right-hander Brad Piatt leads the staff as he owns a 4-0 record with a MAC-best 2.56 ERA on the season among starters ... Junior closer Morgan Coombs owns a 2-1 record with two saves as he has a 1.32 ERA on the year ... Left-hander Tom Mueller is tied for third in the MAC in appearances with 13 and owns a 0.59 ERA in 15.1 innings.
Wednesday's Starters . . .
Ball State will send freshman right-hander Cal Bowling to the hill Wednesday evening while Louisville will counter with freshman left-hander Keith Landers ... Bowling enters the game with a 2-0 record and a 6.32 ERA ... He will be making his eighth appearance and second start of the year ... He worked 2.0 scoreless innings of relief Friday afternoon against Kent State as he did not allow a hit and struck out one ... He picked up the victory in his only other start this season as he threw 5.0 innings against Chicago State and limited the Cougars to one run on five hits ... He also recorded a victory in relief at Southern Illinois as he worked 3.2 innings of shutout baseball.
Landers will be making his first appearance of the season Wednesday as a 6-7 freshman from Worcester, Mass.
Scouting Ball State . . .
Ball State enters Wednesday's game with a 12-11 overall record after splitting a weather-shortened series against Mid-American Conference preseason favorite Kent State last weekend ... The Cardinals have scored 153 runs this year while batting .315 as a team ... BSU owns a .502 slugging percentage on the strength of 54 doubles, 10 triples and 26 home runs ... On the mound, the Cardinals own a 4.09 ERA while holding opponents to a .275 batting average.
Junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker leads the team offensively with a .443 batting average and has scored a team-high 30 runs ... Sophomore third baseman Kolbrin Vitek is second on the team with a .374 batting average and leads the team with a .681 slugging percentage ... He has tallied a team-high five home runs while driving in 25 runs ... Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen is third on the team with a .351 batting average.
In the bullpen, senior left-hander Tom Mueller leads the team with 13 appearances and has a 0.59 ERA in 15.1 innings ... Junior right-hander Morgan Coombs has a 1.32 ERA in 13.2 innings of relief as the Cardinals' closer as he has tallied two saves ... Right-hander Aaron Hammons has made 12 appearances and has a 4.05 ERA.
Scouting Louisville . . .
Louisville, the defending Big East Champions, enter Wednesday's game with a 17-8 overall record after dropping two out of three at Seton Hall last weekend ... The Cardinals have already posted one stretch this season in which they won 10 out of 11 ... Louisville has scored 206 runs this season and is hitting .303 on the year ... The Cardinals own a .470 slugging percentage on the strength of 43 doubles, 12 triples and 28 home runs ... Louisville's pitching staff owns a 4.31 ERA on the year while opponents are batting .262.
All-American Chris Dominquez leads the Cardinals offensively as he has driven in 34 runs and tallied seven home runs ... Phil Wunderlich owns a team-high .363 batting average this season ... In the bullpen, Gavin Logsdon has appeared in 10 games with a 2.77 ERA while Gabriel Shaw has also appeared in 10 games with a 3.74 ERA.
Five-Finger Discount . . .
The Cardinals lead the Mid-American Conference this season in stolen bases ... Through 23 games, Ball State has recorded 49 stolen bases on 59 attempts ... 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 27 bases in 31 attempts at the top of the Cardinals' lineup ... Fields leads the team with 14 steals in 15 attempts while Hazelbaker has converted 13-of-16 stolen base attempts ... The two are both second and third in the MAC, 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 23 games though, Ball State has pounded out 26 home runs, which is third in the Mid-American Conference just two behind conference leader Akron (28) ... Eight different players have hit the long ball this season ... Sophomore third baseman Kolbrin Vitek and junior left fielder Kory Benbow lead the team with five home runs while freshman Ian Nielsen has 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 seven games this spring, working 6.1 innings and allowing one run ... He has tallied 11 strikeouts this season while only walking four batters.
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 Rack Up Honors . . .
Ball State has garnered a weekly Mid-American Conference honor in all six weeks of the season as the Cardinals have tallied five Player of the Week honors and two Pitcher of the Week accolades ... Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen, junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker (three), junior left fielder Kory Benbow have earned Player of the Week honors, while junior right-hander Brad Piatt and sophomore right-hander Kolbrin Vitek earned Pitcher of the Week accolades.
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.
Hazelbaker earned 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.
Vitek picked up his first weekly honor for Vitek this season and the second honor of his career (March 19, 2008) ... Vitek was dominant on the mound last week in two starts against Notre Dame and Akron as he posted a 1-0 record with a 0.82 ERA ... He only allowed one earned run in 11.0 innings of work in his two starts ... He struck out 15 batters on the week while only walking one batter ... He also was strong at the plate as he posted a .471 (eight-of-17) average over the four games last week.
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.
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.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State returns to Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it hits the road for the first time in conference play when the Cardinals travel to Buffalo, N.Y., for a three-game series with the Bulls.
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