Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Travels To Empire State For Three-Game Set At Buffalo
April 03, 2009 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State returns to Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it travels to the Empire State for a three-game series against Buffalo ... The Cardinals enter the weekend with a 12-12 overall record after dropping a 12-inning affair at Louisville Wednesday ... BSU owns a 3-2 MAC record on the season and are coming off of a two-game series split with preseason conference favorite Kent State last weekend ... The Cardinals are led by seventh-year head coach Greg Beals ... Buffalo enters the weekend with a 10-15 overall record after picking up a 35-5 victory over Division III Hilbert College Wednesday ... The Bulls own a 1-5 mark in MAC play after dropping two out of three at Central Michigan last weekend ... Buffalo is led by third-year head coach Ron Torgalski.
Series History . . .
This weekend's series marks the second series all-time between Ball State and Buffalo ... The two teams met last season for the first time in program history and the Cardinals swept the three game series at Ball Diamond ... Ball State claimed the victories by scores of 3-1, 16-1 and 9-3 ... The Cardinals posted a .330 batting average on the weekend while holding the Bulls to a .149 average in the series. Ball State tallied nine doubles, three triples and three home runs on the weekend ... Former Cardinals Dustin Rogers, Dean Anna and Wayne Bond Jr. combined to hit 19-of-34 (.558) on the weekend ... On the mound, Brenden Stines worked six innings and allowed just one run while Kolbrin Vitek notched a victory as he tossed seven innings of work while striking out six batters.
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 (200-160) 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 Honored, 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 the weekend second in the Mid-American Conference in batting with a .441 average ... Hazelbaker leads the league in hits (45), runs (31), triples (4) and on-base percentage (.525) ... He is second in total bases (67) and stolen bases (14), while ranking sixth in slugging percentage (.657).
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 3.95 staff ERA ... BSU is holding opponents to a .270 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 2-2 record with two saves as he has a 1.12 ERA on the year ... Left-hander Tom Mueller is tied for third in the MAC in appearances with 14 and owns a 0.55 ERA in 16.1 innings.
This Weekend's Starters . . .
Ball State will stick with the same weekend rotation for the third straight weekend as it will send right-handers Brad Piatt, Brenden Stines and Kolbrin Vitek to the hill ... Buffalo has not named a starter for any of the three games this weekend.
Piatt leads the Mid-American Conference with a 4-0 record and a 2.56 ERA on the year ... He will be making his team-leading seventh start of the season this weekend as he has worked 31.2 innings ... He has allowed just nine earned runs while striking out 20 batters.
Stines brings a 1-3 record into the weekend with a 4.01 ERA as he will be making his sixth start and nine appearance ... He has worekd 24.2 innings this year and is coming off of a strong outing last weekend against MAC preseason favorite Kent State ... In that game, he worked 6.0 innings and held KSU to just one earned run.
Vitek owns a 2-1 record on the year with a 3.33 ERA as he will be making his sixth start and seventh appearance ... He has worked 24.1 innings this season and has struck out 28 batters while walking just four ... He worked two innings of scoreless relief Wednesday at Louisville.
Scouting Ball State . . .
Ball State enters the weekend with a 12-12 overall record and a 3-2 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Cardinals own a .310 batting average on the year and have scored 157 runs in 24 games ... BSU has tallied a .493 slugging percentage on the strength of 58 doubles, 10 triples and 26 home runs ... On the mound, the Cardinals have a MAC-best 3.95 ERA on the year as they are holding opponents to a .270 batting average ... Ball State has tallied 166 strikeouts while walking 92 batters.
Junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker leads the team in batting with a .441 average as he has tallied a team-high 45 hits ... Sophomore third baseman Kolbrin Vitek owns a .361 batting average and has driven in a team-high 26 runs and tallied five home runs ... Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen adds a .347 batting average on the year.
In the bullpen, senior left-hander Tom Mueller has appeared in a team-high 14 games as he has a 0.55 ERA on the year in 16.1 innings pitched ... Right-hander Aaron Hammons is second on the team with 13 appearances as he has a 3.77 ERA in 14.1 innings ... Junior closer Morgan Coombs has a 1.12 ERA in 16.0 innings as he has notched two saves.
Scouting Buffalo . . .
Buffalo enters the weekend with a 10-15 overall record but have dropped six out of its last eight games ... The Bulls own a .300 batting average and have scored 191 runs in 25 games ... Buffalo has tallied a .442 slugging percentage on the strength of 59 doubles, six triples and 17 home runs ... On the mound, the Bulls have a 8.16 ERA on the year while opponents are batting .316 ... Buffalo has struck out 177 batters while walking 141.
Offensively, Chris Ciesla leads the team with a .343 batting average on the year as he has a team-high 34 hits ... Adam Skonieczki is second on the team with a .33 batting average while Charlie Karstedt leads the team with 21 RBI.
In the bullpen, Zach Anderson leads the team with 11 appearances as he owns a 4.10 ERA ... He has worked 26.1 innings and has struck out 34 batters ... River McWilliams is second on the team with nine appearances and owns a 7.16 ERA.
Five-Finger Discount . . .
The Cardinals lead the Mid-American Conference this season in stolen bases ... Through 24 games, Ball State has recorded 51 stolen bases on 61 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 28 bases in 32 attempts at the top of the Cardinals' lineup ... Fields leads the team with 14 steals in 15 attempts while Hazelbaker has converted 14-of-17 stolen base attempts ... The two are tied for second MAC.
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 24 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 eight games this spring, working 7.1 innings and allowing two runs ... He has tallied 13 strikeouts this season while only walking five 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 will have a pair of midweek contests as the Cardinals travel to Purdue Tuesday afternoon and host Indiana Tech Wednesday. BSU returns to MAC play next weekend at Bowling Green.
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