Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Heads To Southern Illinois For Two-Game Series
March 09, 2009 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals continue their season-opening 12-game road swing with a two-game midweek series at Southern Illinois ... Ball State brings a 5-5 record into the series after posting a 1-3 mark against Big 12 power Missouri this past weekend ... The Cardinals are led by seventh-year head coach Greg Beals.
Southern Illinois enters the series with a 4-9 record on the season ... The Salukis have dropped three out of their last four games, including a three-game series loss to Mid-American Conference foe Northern Illinois last weekend ... SIU is led by 15-year head coach Dan Callahan.
Series History . . .
Ball State and Southern Illinois have met 15 times prior to this week's games with the Salukis owning an 11-4 mark all-time against the Cardinals ... The two teams have not met since March 4, 1995 when SIU claimed a 4-1 victory in Muncie ... The 14 meetings prior to that all occurred between 1967 and 1972 ... Ball State last recorded a victory over SIU on May 23, 1970 when it scored a 4-1 victory at home.
Series' Starters . . .
Ball State will send two right-handers to the mound in the midweek series with freshman Justin Warrington taking the hill Tuesday and senior Brenden Stines going Wednesday ... Warrington will be making his first career collegiate start Tuesday against the Salukis ... He has made three appearances this season and has worked 8.0 innings ... He has allowed three runs, all unearned, while giving up 10 hits ... He has walked four batters and struck out four batters.
Stines earns his third start of the season and his fourth appearance Wednesday afternoon ... He owns an 0-1 record with a 4.82 ERA ... He has worked 9.1 innings and has allowed five earned runs while walking three and striking out five batters ... He picked up the loss Friday night at Missouri as he worked 3.1 innings and was charged with three runs on four hits.
Southern Illinois will send right-hander Brad Lawrence to the hill Tuesday ... Lawrence is making his fourth appearance of the season and owns a 27.00 ERA ... He has worked 2.1 innings on the year and has been charged with seven runs on six hits.
The Salukis have not named a starter for Wednesday's game.
Scouting Ball State . . .
The Cardinals enter the series with a 5-5 record on the year ... Ball State has scored 73 runs this season as it is posting a .329 batting average ... The Cardinals own a .529 slugging percentage as they have tallied 22 doubles, three triples and 16 home runs ... Ball State has also stolen 23-of-28 bases this season ... On the mound, the Cardinals own a 5.34 ERA through 86.0 innings ... BSU has tallied 59 strikeouts compared to 48 walks.
Junior centerfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker leads the team in batting at .447 (21-of-47) on the season ... He also leads the team in hits (21), runs (14) and triples (2) ... He has driven in 11 runs and has recorded six stolen bases ... Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen owns a .386 (17-of-44) batting average ... Nielsen leads the team with four home runs.
Junior left fielder Kory Benbow adds a .359 (14-of-39) batting average and has driven in 11 runs ... Sophomore third baseman Kolbrin Vitek owns a .357 batting average (15-of-42) on the year and has driven in 13 runs.
On the mound, junior right-hander Brad Piatt owns a 2-0 record with a 2.57 ERA to lead the starters ... In the pen, senior left-hander Tom Mueller has a 1.17 ERA in 7.2 innings of work while right-hander Morgan Coombs has a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings.
Scouting Southern Illinois . . .
Southern Illinois enters the series with a 4-9 record on the season ... The Salukis has scored 66 runs this season as they own a .273 batting average ... SIU has a .371 slugging percentage as it has tallied 19 doubles, two triples and seven home runs ... On the mound, Southern Illinois owns a 5.48 ERA on the year in 111.2 innings ... The Salukis have tallied 67 strikeouts compared to 40 walks.
Freshman infielder Chris Serritella leads SIU at the plate with a .364 (12-of-33) batting average ... Senior catcher Mark Kelly owns a .327 (18-of-55) batting average ... Kelly leads the Salukis in hits (18), doubles (5) and RBI (13) ... Michael Stalter has scored a team-high 12 runs.
On the mound, Daniel Etienne leads the team with a 2-0 record as he is one of four pitchers with six appearances on the year ... Bryant George owns two saves as the SIU closer as he has a 3.38 ERA.
Cardinals Take Weekly Honors . . .
Ball State has earned Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week the first two weeks of the season as freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen earned the honor the first week and junior centerfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker earned the honor the second 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 Friday afternoon.
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 Saturday 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 Friday afternoon, 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 Sunday as he drove in a career-high five runs in the victory ... He tallied a double, triple and two singles against the Governors.
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 10 games though, Ball State has pounded out 16 home runs to lead the Mid-American Conference in that category ... Seven different players have hit the long ball this season with freshman Ian Nielsen leading the way with four home runs ... Sophomore Kolbrin Vitek and senior Nate Fields have each have tallied three home runs this season.
Welcome Addition In The Pen . . .
Junior college transfer Morgan Coombs has adjusted well into the Cardinals' bullpen and help Ball State transition from the loss of all-time saves leader Kyle Heyne to the MLB draft ... Coombs is tied for the team-lead with four appearances on the year ... He owns a 2-1 record on the season with a 1.23 ERA ... He has worked 7.1 innings and only allowed one earned run.
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 two games this spring, working 1.2 innings and allowing one run.
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 a senior as he posted a 5-3 record with a stellar 0.83 ERA.
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.
Switching Positions . . .
The Cardinals will have some familiar faces in new places this season as senior Nate Fields, junior Jeremy Hazelbaker and sophomore T.J. Baumet have all switched positions this season ... Fields moves from the outfield to second base this season ... He posted a team-high .331 batting average last spring as he started 38 games last year ... Hazelbaker moves from second base to center field this season to replace former Cardinal Wayne Bond Jr. ... He posted a .244 batting average in 31 starts last season as he drove in 26 runs ... Baumet split time last season mostly between third base and second base but will move to shortstop as he replaces former Cardinal Dean Anna who was drafted by the San Diego Padres ... Baumet turned in a .237 batting average in 49 starts last season as a true freshman.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State returns to Muncie for its 2009 season opener this weekend as the Cardinals host Chicago State in a four-game series beginning Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Ball Diamond.
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