Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Opens 2010 Season At No. 15 Arkansas This Weekend
February 18, 2010 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State opens the 2010 season with a three-game series against No. 15 Arkansas this weekend ... The Cardinals are coming off of a 26-25 record last season when they claimed the Mid-American Conference West Division championship with a 14-10 record ... The Cardinals are led by eighth-year head coach Greg Beals ... Arkansas enters the 2010 season after posting a 41-24 overall record last season and advancing to a third place finish in the 2009 College World Series ... The Razorbacks are led by eighth-year head coach Dave Van Horn.
Live stats as well as live video and audio will be available courtesy of Arkansas with links available at www.ballstatesports.com.
Series History . . .
This weekend's three-game series marks the Cardinals' first ever meeting with the Arkansas Razorbacks in program history ... Ball State has played 16 times against teams from the Southeastern Conference in program history and own a 6-10 mark all-time in those games ... The Cardinals are 1-0 all-time against Georgia, 4-3 all-time against Kentucky and 1-7 all-time against Vanderbilt ... Ball State's last meeting against an SEC foe came in 2007 with a loss at Vanderbilt ... Prior to that, the Cardinals posted a 1-1 record against Kentucky in the 2006 NCAA Regional.
MAC West Champions & Preseason Favorites . . .
Ball State earned their Mid-American Conference record seventh MAC West Division title in 2009 after closing the year with five straight wins to chase down Toledo for the division title ... The Cardinals have now won seven of the 13 MAC West Division titles since divisional play began in 1998 ... Only Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan have won MAC West titles with both teams claiming three each.
Ball State enters the 2010 season as the preseason favorite to claim the MAC West Division and MAC Tournament titles, as chosen by the league's head coaches in the preseason poll ... The Cardinals received a league-high 72 points to claim the MAC West Division's top spot and were chosen by five coaches to claim their second MAC Tournament title in program history.
Head Coach Greg Beals . . .
Head coach Greg Beals begins his eighth season at the helm of the Cardinals in 2010 ... Beals brings a 214-173 record into the season as he is third all-time in Ball State history in career wins ... He became the second-fastest coach to reach 200 career victories when he accomplished the feat against his alma mater Kent State last spring ... He enters the 2010 season 42 wins shy of second all-time in Ball State history for career victories ... Rich Maloney is currently second all-time with 256 wins, while Pat Quinn holds the BSU record with 323 victories.
Road Warriors . . .
Ball State opens the 2010 season with 23 straight games away from home, including all of its games in the months of February and March ... The Cardinals will play 18 true road games and five games in neutral sites to open the season ... Ball State will not open the home portion of the 2010 schedule until April 2 when it hosts Miami in its second Mid-American Conference series of the year ... The Cardinals will play a total of 40 road games this season, while only playing 16 games at Ball Diamond.
This Weekend's Starters . . .
Ball State will send three right-handers to the mound this weekend in its first action of the 2010 season ... Senior Brad Piatt will take the hill Friday, sophomore Cal Bowling gets the nod Saturday and junior Kolbrin Vitek takes the ball Sunday afternoon.
Piatt, the Cardinals' primary Friday starter last season, posted a 5-2 record last spring with a 5.34 ERA ... He worked 62.1 innings last season and tallied 36 strikeouts, while walking 23 batters ... Bowling moves into the weekend rotation this year after pitching during the midweek last year ... He posted a 3-1 record with a 7.52 ERA in 40.2 innings last fall ... Vitek, the Cardinals' two-way star, recorded a 4-3 record with a 5.65 ERA last year in 57.1 innings ... He notched 56 strikeouts to lead the team while walking a Mid-American Conference low nine batters.
Arkansas will counter with right-hander Mike Bolsinger, left-hander Drew Smyly and right-hander Brett Eibner ... Bolsinger posted a 6-4 record with a 2.99 ERA last season as the Razorbacks top reliever with 30 appearances and 69.1 innings ... Smyly posted a 3-1 record with a 4.66 ERA in 14 starts while working 58.0 innings ... Eibner, the Razorbacks two-way player, recorded a 5-5 record with a 5.00 ERA in 17 starts as he worked 72.0 innings last spring.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State returns one of the top offenses in the Mid-American Conference as it posted a .323 batting average last season and scored 407 runs in 51 games ... Leading the charge offensively is junior second baseman Kolbrin Vitek ... Vitek posted a .389 batting average and a .736 slugging percentage last spring as he drove in a team-high 67 RBI and tallied 81 hits ... Sophomore first baseman Ian Nielsen returns after earning freshman All-America honors last spring with a .352 batting average while driving in 53 runs.
On the mound, the Cardinals led the MAC with a 5.54 team ERA ... The Cardinals return two starters from last season and a large contingent of relievers ... Leading the way in the bullpen is senior right-hander Aaron Hammons who moves into the closer role this year ... Hammons posted a 5.64 ERA in 29 appearances last year as he struck out 39 batters in 30.1 innings ... Also returning for his second season is right-hander Perci Garner who was named the No. 2 prospect in the Great Lakes College League this summer by Baseball America ... Garner notched a 4.95 ERA in 17 appearances last season with 24 strikeouts in 20.0 innings.
Scouting The Razorbacks . . .
Arkansas was picked to finish second in the Southeastern Conference West Division this season ... The Razorbacks posted a .273 batting average last year while scoring 412 runs in 65 games ... Leading the way this spring is Andy Wilkins who posted a team-high .319 batting average last year ... Wilkins also led the team with 19 home runs and 58 RBI ... Zach Cox also returns after hitting 13 home runs last season and notching 15 doubles.
In the bullpen, Arkansas will have to replace closer Stephen Richards who posted nine saves last year ... Sam Murphy returns with the most appearances in the bullpen as he made 21 appearances and posted a 6.15 ERA with a 3-1 record
Vitek Earns Preseason Honors . . .
Junior second baseman Kolbrin Vitek has been tabbed as one of the top players in not only the Mid-American Conference but in the country as he has received preseason All-America honors by three different publications ... Vitek was named Second Team All-America by Baseball America, Louisville Slugger and Ping! Baseball.
Vitek earned First Team All-MAC honors at the utility position last season as he played third base and was one of the Cardinals' weekend starters ... He finished second on the team and sixth in the MAC with a .389 batting average ... He also led the MAC in doubles (25), was second in RBI (67), third in slugging percentage (.736), third in total bases (153) and was fourth on the mound in opponent batting average (.268).
Vitek led the conference in MAC games with a .455 average and a .828 slugging percentage against conference foes as he drove in 30 runs ... He also posted a 4-3 record with a 5.65 ERA in 11 starts this season as part of the weekend rotation ... He set the Ball State single-season record for walks per nine innings at 1.41 as he only allowed nine free passes in 57.1 innings.
Vitek continued his strong play over the summer as he was picked as Baseball America's top prospect in the Great Lakes League (GLSCL) ... He won the league's first Triple Crown in 23 years as he hit .400, tallied six home runs and drove in 38 runs ... He also stole 10 bases and was named the GLSCL All-Star Game Most Valuable Player.
Dygert Named Team Captain . . .
Senior catcher Zach Dygert has been named the 2010 team captain by head coach Greg Beals ... Dygert posted a .350 batting average last spring and was second on the team with 58 RBI when he earned First Team All-Mid-American Conference accolades ... He was selected in the 48th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Washington Nationals ... Collegebaseballinsider.com rated Dygert as the best fielding catcher in the MAC for the third straight season in its preseason publication.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State heads to Birmingham, Ala., for a four-game series against the UAB Blazers next weekend.
