Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Travels To UAB For Four-Game Series This Weekend
February 25, 2010 | Baseball
LIVE STATS & VIDEO (Courtesy of UAB)
What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals head to Birmingham, Ala., this weekend for a four-game series against the UAB Blazers at Jerry D. Young Memorial Field ... Game times for the weekend are Friday at 3 p.m. (CT), Saturday at Noon (CT) and Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT) ... Ball State enters the series with a 1-2 record on the season after dropping the series at No. 15 Arkansas to open the 2010 season ... The Cardinals are led by eighth-year head coach Greg Beals ... UAB enters the game with an 0-1 record on the year as the Blazers fell 6-5 at Mississippi State Tuesday night in their season opener ... UAB is led by fourth-year head coach Brian Shoop.
Live video is available for a fee at www.uabsports.com, while live stats are available for free.
Series History . . .
Ball State and UAB have met 13 times prior to this weekend's series with the Cardinals trailing the all-time series by a 6-7 margin ... All 13 games in series history have been played in Birmingham ... The two teams last met for a four-game series to open the 2008 season ... The Blazers won the first two games by scores of 8-7 and 11-10, but the Cardinals earned a series split with back-to-back victories of 3-2 and 15-8 ... In that series, Kolbrin Vitek posted a .417 average (5-of-12) in his collegiate debut at the plate while also posting a 1-0 record on the mound as he tossed 5.0 innings of one-run baseball, while limiting the Blazers to one hit and six strikeouts ... Brad Piatt was also strong in the series as he earned a no decision with throwing 6.0 shutout innings and allowing just six hits.
Coombs & Vitek Honored . . .
Senior right-hander Morgan Coombs was named the Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Week and the CollegeBaseball360.com National Primetime Pitcher of the week after leading the Cardinals to a 5-2 victory over nationally ranked Arkansas ... Coombs tossed 5.0 strong innings of relief Saturday afternoon ... He did not allow an earned run during the outing as he limited Arkansas to just four hits ... He struck out a career-high eight batters in his first stint as a middle reliever after leading the Cardinals with six saves last year.
Junior second baseman Kolbrin Vitek was named the MAC West Player of the Week for his performance against No. 15 Arkansas ... Vitek, a preseason All-America selection, posted a .500 batting average (7-of-14) in the three-game series against the nationally ranked Razorbacks ... He tallied a season-high four hits in the Cardinals' 5-2 victory over Arkansas as he scored three runs and drove in a run ... This is the fourth MAC weekly honor of his career.
Cardinals Tabbed 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.
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 four right-handers to the mound this weekend with senior Brad Piatt taking the hill Friday, sophomore Cal Bowling getting the nod in game one Saturday, senior Scott Brothers Jr. in game two Saturday and junior Kolbrin Vitek getting the call Sunday afternoon ... UAB will counter with left-hander Shay Crawford Friday, right-hander Beau Pender Saturday and right-hander Ryan Woolley Sunday ... The Blazers have not named a starter for game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
Piatt (0-1) opened the season with a loss at No. 15 Arkansas as he allowed three runs in 3.0 innings ... He posted a 5-2 record with a 5.34 ERA last season as the Cardinals' primary Friday starter ... Bowling earned a no decision at Arkansas despite tossing 4.0 strong innings of one-run baseball as he limited the Razorbacks to just four hits ... He notched a 3-1 record with 7.52 ERA last season, pitching primarily during midweek contests.
Brothers pitched one inning in relief against Arkansas and allowed one run on one hit ... Last season, he made 16 appearances out of the bullpen and posted a 1-1 record with a 3.86 ERA in 21.0 innings ... Vitek (0-1) recorded the loss Sunday against Arkansas as he allowed four runs on five hits in 5.0 innings ... Last year, he tallied a 4-3 record with a 5.65 ERA in 57.1 innings.
Crawford posted a 5-2 record last season with a 5.14 ERA in 77.0 innings pitched as the Blazers' top starter ... Pender recorded a 3-5 record with a 6.16 ERA in 61.1 innings pitched last season ... Woolley sat out last season after transferring from Georgia ... Despite sitting out, he was still drafted in the sixth round by the Atlanta Braves.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters the weekend with a 1-2 record on the season after opening the year with a three-game series at No. 15 Arkansas ... The Cardinals posted a .282 batting average in the three-game series while scoring 10 runs ... Junior second baseman Kolbrin Vitek led the attack as he hit .500 (7-of-14) in the series ... Senior catcher Zach Dygert posted a .417 average (5-of-12) in the three games while driving in a team-high four runs ... Dygert had one of the biggest hits of the series as he notched an eighth inning two-run home run in the Cardinals' 5-2 victory Saturday.
Scouting The Blazers . . .
UAB enters the weekend with an 0-1 record on the year after opening the season with a 6-5 loss at Mississippi State ... The Blazers opened to a 4-0 lead against the Bulldogs and held a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning before MSU hit back-to-back home runs to win the game ... UAB tallied six hits in the loss with catcher Digger Towe leading the way with two hits, including the Blazers' first home run of the year.
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 continues its 23-game road start to the season when it travels to the Carolinas for its annual spring break trip ... The Cardinals will play nine games in nine days, playing primarily at Coastal Carolina with games against Pittsburgh Albany, Coastal Carolina (2), UNC-Wilmington, College of Charleston, Michigan, Lipscomb and Illinois.
