Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Travels To Purdue Tuesday At 4 P.M.
April 07, 2009 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State steps out of Mid-American Conference play Tuesday afternoon as it takes on Big Ten foe Purdue ... The Cardinals enter the contest with a 14-12 overall record after recording a doubleheader sweep of Buffalo Sunday afternoon ... The victory moved the Cardinals into sole possession of first place in the MAC West Division with a 5-2 record ... Ball State is led by seventh-year head coach Greg Beals ... Purdue enters the game with a 13-12 overall record and a 3-2 mark in Big Ten action ... The Boilermakers are coming off of a doubleheader sweep of Iowa last weekend ... Purdue is led by 10th-year head coach Doug Schreiber.
Series History . . .
Tuesday's game marks the 78th meeting all-time between Ball State and Purdue on the diamond ... The Cardinals trail the all-time series 42-33-2 to the Boilermakers ... Purdue has won the past two meetings but the Cardinals have taken four out of the last six contests.
Last season, Purdue claimed a 3-1 victory over the Cardinals in West Lafayette ... The Cardinals fell victim to a strong pitching performance from Purdue starter Tony Sedlemeyer, who allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings of work ... The Ball State pitching staff was also strong as five Cardinal pitchers combined to allow just five hits in the game ... Purdue needed only one hit to score two fifth-inning runs and break open a 1-1 tie ... A pair of walks and a catcher's interference call loaded the bases, and Purdue first baseman Ryne White singled to score two runs and give the Boilermakers a 3-1 lead ... The teams combined for just three hits over the final four innings.
Brad Piatt worked 4.0 innings and allowed just one earned run while Aaron Hammons tossed two innings of scoreless relief.
Nielsen Honored, Again . . .
Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the week, the league office announced Monday ... This marks the second time this season that Nielsen has been honored by the MAC ... Ball State has now received a weekly honor from the MAC all seven weeks of the 2009 season.
Nielsen led the Cardinals into sole possession of first place in the MAC West Division with a doubleheader sweep at Buffalo this past weekend ... He was six-of-nine (.667) in the two games against the Bulls and drove in five runs ... Four out of his five RBI came with two outs in the twin bill as he led the Cardinals to a 5-2 conference start.
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 ... Beals (202-160) 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).
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 .435 average ... Hazelbaker leads the league in hits (47), runs (35), triples (4) and on-base percentage (.531) ... He is second in total bases (70) and stolen bases (16), while ranking sixth in slugging percentage (.648).
Today's Starters . . .
Ball State will send right-hander Brenden Stines to the mound Tuesday while Purdue has not announced a starter ... Stines enters the game with a 1-3 overall record and a 4.01 ERA ... He has worked 24.2 innings and has struck out 17 while only walking nine batters ... He is coming off of a strong seven inning outing against Kent State as he held the Golden Flashes to just one earned run.
Scouting Ball State . . .
Ball State enters the game with a 14-12 overall record after sweeping Buffalo in a doubleheader Sunday ... The Cardinals are batting .310 as a team as they have scored 175 runs ... Ball State owns a .488 slugging percentage on the strength of 63 doubles, 10 triples and 27 home runs ... On the mound, the Cardinals have a 4.07 ERA and are holding opponents to a .272 batting average ... BSU has struck out 178 batters while walking 100.
Junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker leads the team with a .435 batting average ... Hazelbaker also leads the team with 47 hits, 35 runs, six triples, 70 total bases and a .531 on-base percentage ... Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen is second on the team with a .374 batting average while sophomore third baseman Kolbrin Vitek leads the team with 27 RBI.
In the bullpen, senior left-hander Tom Mueller leads the team with 15 appearances as he owns a 1.04 ERA in 17.1 innings ... Junior closer Morgan Coombs has a 1.50 ERA in 18.0 innings as he has a 2-2 record with three saves.
Scouting Purdue . . .
Purdue enters the game with a 13-12 overall record ... The Boilermakers are batting .307 on the year and have scored 174 runs ... Purdue owns a .441 slugging percentage on the strength of 50 doubles, seven triples and 19 home runs ... On the mound, the Boilermakers own a 6.39 ERA as opponents are batting .311 against them ... Purdue has struck out 191 batters while walking 111.
Offensively, Brandon Haverman leads the team with a .426 batting average while playing 17 games ... Dan Black has driven in 33 runs while leading the team with nine home runs ... Black leads the team with a .729 slugging percentage.
In the bullpen, Blake Mascarello leads the team with 11 appearances and owns a 5.82 ERA ... He has struck out 14 in 17.0 innings of work ... Kevin Cahill is second on the team with 10 appearances as he leads the team with three saves.
Five-Finger Discount . . .
The Cardinals lead the Mid-American Conference this season in stolen bases ... Through 26 games, Ball State has recorded 60 stolen bases on 71 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 32 bases in 36 attempts at the top of the Cardinals' lineup ... Fields leads the team with 16 steals in 17 attempts while Hazelbaker has converted 16-of-19 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 26 games though, Ball State has pounded out 27 home runs ... Nine 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 nine games this spring, working 9.1 innings and allowing four runs ... He has tallied 14 strikeouts this season while only walking six batters as he owns a 3.86 ERA.
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 seven weeks of the season as the Cardinals have tallied six Player of the Week honors and two Pitcher of the Week accolades ... Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen (two), 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.
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
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 return to Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it hits the road for a three-game series at Bowling Green.
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