Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Opens MAC Play This Weekend At Ohio
March 26, 2010 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State opens the 2010 Mid-American Conference season this weekend with a three-game series on the road against the Ohio Bobcats ... The two teams will play three games at Wren Stadium including Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. ... The Cardinals, who will also wrap up their season-opening 23-game road swing this weekend, own a 6-14 overall record this season ... Ball State is coming off of an 11-5 loss at Notre Dame during the midweek ... Last weekend, the Cardinals posted a 1-2 record against No. 7 Louisville ... Ball State is led by eighth-year head coach Greg Beals ... Ohio enters the weekend with a 2-15 overall record and have dropped seven straight ... The Bobcats have been swept in all four weekend series this season with losses to Middle Tennessee, Furman, Vanderbilt and most recently Purdue ... Ohio is led by 21st-year head coach Joe Carbone.
Live stats will be available during the three-game series at www.ballstatesports.com.
MAC Openers . . .
This weekend marks the 37th season of Mid-American Conference baseball for Ball State ... The Cardinals own a 54-50 record all-time in MAC season-opening series dating back to 1974 ... Ball State has been strong recently in MAC opening series as the Cardinals are 12-3 over the past five season in MAC opening weekends ... In fact, since the 1995 season the Cardinals are 32-11 in conference opening weekends ... Ball State posted a three-game series sweep at Kent State two seasons ago and took two out of three against Akron last spring.
Ball State is 1-5 all-time in opening weekends when facing Ohio ... The two teams last opened MAC play in 1999, with the Cardinals dropping both games at Ohio (11-7, 19-15) ... The two teams also opened league play in 1987 (0-2) and 1986 (1-1).
Series History . . .
Ball State and Ohio have met 89 times prior to this weekend's three-game series ... The Cardinals trail the all-time series by a 53-36 margin and have dropped four out of the last five meetings ... Ohio eliminated Ball State from the Mid-American Conference Tournament last season with a 15-6 victory May 21 ... The two teams combined for 29 hits, including 10 for extra bases, in the contest ... Ohio was led by Hayden Johnston who went 5-for-5 in the victory, including three doubles, as he drove in four runs and scored three runs ... Ball State was paced offensively by Kolbrin Vitek scored drove in three runs in the loss.
The teams have not met in the regular season since the 2007 season, due to the rotating MAC schedule ... In that series, Ball State posted a 1-2 record against the Bobcats in Athens, Ohio ... The Cardinals are 16-27 all-time on the road against Ohio and are just 3-14 in Athens since 1992.
Garner Honored . . .
Right-hander Perci Garner was named to the Collegebaseball360.com Primetime Performer Weekly Honor Roll ... Garner led the Cardinals to an upset victory over No. 7 Louisville last weekend as he worked 4.0 innings of two-hit relief to give Louisville just its second loss of the season (17-2) ... He allowed one run on two hits while striking out six batters, including all three in the seventh inning ... He combined with two other BSU pitchers to limit U of L to its lowest run and hit total of the season.
Garner is the second Cardinal this season to earn a weekly honor from CollegeBaseball360.com as senior Morgan Coombs was the Primetime Pitcher of the Week after leading Ball State to a victory over No. 15 Arkansas in the opening weekend.
Tough Schedule . . .
The Cardinals have played one of the toughest schedules so far this season, according to Boydsworld.com in its Iterative Strength Ratings (ISR) ... Ball State has the 27th toughest schedule in the nation (as of March 25) ... The Cardinals have the highest rated schedule of any team in the Mid-American Conference and is the only MAC team rated in the top 50.
Below is a list of current strength of schedules for MAC teams:
27. Ball State
70. Miami
77. Northern Illinois
92. Bowling Green
108. Eastern Michigan
120. Kent State
151. Western Michigan
159. Toledo
175. Ohio
189. Akron
192. Central Michigan
245. Buffalo
This Weekend's Starters . . .
Ball State will send three right-handers to the hill this weekend while Ohio will also counter with a trio of right-handers ... The Cardinals will hand the ball to Perci Garner Friday, Cal Bowling Saturday and Kolbrin Vitek Sunday afternoon ... The Bobcats will go with Seth Streich Friday, Ryan Bores Saturday and Brock Trimbur Sunday.
Garner will be making his first career start Friday evening and his seventh appearance of the year ... He owns a 1-0 record with a 6.00 ERA in 18.0 innings of work ... He leads the team with 26 strikeouts and has issued 11 walks ... He leads the Mid-American Conference in strikeouts per nine innings (13.0).
Bowling gets the call Saturday afternoon and will be making his sixth start of the season ... He has an 0-3 record on the year with a 5.85 ERA in 20.0 innings ... He has struck out 12 and walked 13 batters this season ... Vitek gets the nod Sunday afternoon and will be making his sixth start of the year ... He owns an 0-2 record with a 4.64 ERA in 21.1 innings of work ... He has tallied 13 strikeouts this season while walking six ... He tossed 4.0 shutout innings last weekend against No. 7 Louisville as he limited the Cardinals to just three hits.
Streich will be making his sixth appearance of the season and third start ... He owns an 0-1 record with a 9.64 ERA in 9.1 innings of work ... He has tallied eight strikeouts while walking eight batters ... Last weekend, he picked up the loss Saturday against Purdue as he allowed two runs on four hits in 1.0 innings.
Bores will be making his team-leading sixth start of the season Saturday ... He has an 0-4 record with a 7.65 ERA in 20.0 innings of work ... He has recorded eight strikeouts and has walked nine batters ... Last weekend, he took the loss against Purdue Sunday despite working 6.2 innings and allowing five runs on nine hits.
Trimbur will be making his second start of the year and his eighth appearance Sunday ... He has an 0-1 record with a 1.98 ERA in 13.2 innings of work as he has struck out eight and walked six this season ... He tossed 3.2 innings of relief Saturday against Purdue and allowed five unearned runs in the Ohio loss.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters the weekend with a 6-14 overall record and has dropped four of its last five contests ... The Cardinals have scored 108 runs in 20 games this season and are batting .274 on the year ... On the mound, Ball State owns a 5.71 ERA and opponents are batting .295 against ... The Cardinals have recorded 116 strikeouts while walking 92 batters.
Junior second baseman Kolbrin Vitek leads the team offensively as he owns a .390 batting average ... Vitek also leads the team with 32 hits, 23 runs, 20 RBI, eight doubles, six stolen bases and four home runs ... Freshman Blake Beemer has seen his playing time increase and owns a .375 batting average in 32 plate appearances ... In his last nine games, Beemer has started six contests and is batting .429 with 12 hits.
Sophomore first baseman Ian Nielsen adds a .310 batting average and is third on the team with 10 RBI ... Senior catcher Zach Dygert is second on the team with 16 RBI and has tallied three home runs.
In the bullpen, right-hander Seth Hobbs leads the team with nine appearances and has a 4.66 ERA in 9.2 innings ... Heath Riley has appeared in eight games and has a 5.40 ERA in 9.2 innings of work ... Closer Aaron Hammons has appeared in four games and has a 4.91 ERA in 3.2 innings of work.
Scouting The Bobcats . . .
Ohio enters the weekend with a 2-15 overall record and has dropped seven straight ... The Bobcats have been swept in all four true weekend series so far this season ... Ohio is batting .277 this season and has scored 96 runs in 17 games ... The Bobcats own a 7.48 ERA on the hill this season and opponents are batting .345 against ... Ohio has tallied 96 strikeouts and has issued 69 walks.
Gauntlet Eldemire leads Ohio offensively as he has a .433 batting average ... Eldemire also leads the team with 29 hits, 17 runs, 19 RBI, eight doubles and six stolen bases ... Robert Maddox adds a .329 batting average this season and is second on the team with 17 RBI ... Maddox leads the team with four home runs and is second with 23 hits.
In the bullpen, Ben Trimbur has appeared in seven games and has a 2.77 ERA in 13.0 innings of work ... Matt Robin has appeared in eight games and has a 4.50 ERA in 6.0 innings of work ... Ohio has used 16 different pitchers so far this season.
Last Time Out . . .
Ball State suffered an 11-5 loss at Notre Dame Tuesday in its final tune-up before Mid-American Conference play opens this weekend ... The Fighting Irish jumped out to an early 9-2 lead to secure the victory ... Freshman catcher Kevin Franchetti tallied two of the Cardinals' nine hits in the loss with a double and a triple and drove in his first two career runs ... On the mound, sophomore Cody Elliott highlighted the Cardinals' final four shutout innings on the hill as he tossed 2.0 innings and only allowed one hit.
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.
Dygert Named To Watch List . . .
Senior catcher Zach Dygert has been named to the 2010 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award delivered by Papa John's Pizza ... The Johnny Bench Award is awarded awarded annually to the nation's top collegiate catcher based on athletic ability, sportsmanship, team leadership and character.
Dygert, a 48th round draft pick by the Washington Nationals last season, is a two-time All-Mid-American Conference selection. He finished last season fourth on the team with a .350 batting average as he tallied 69 hits. He was second on the team with 58 RBI and also scored 42 runs ... This season, he is second on the team with 13 RBI and three home runs during the first 16 games of the year. He recorded a big eighth inning home run this season to lead the Cardinals to an upset victory over No. 15 Arkansas in the first weekend of the year.
Dygert is one of four catchers from the MAC on the 2010 Johnny Bench Watch List. He is joined by Toledo's Aaron Dudley, Bowling Green's Tyler Elkins and Akron's John Turk.
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.
Weekly Honors . . .
Junior second baseman Kolbrin Vitek was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week (March 1), marking his second straight weekly honor from the league to open the season ... Vitek, a preseason All-America selection, paced the Cardinals' attack at UAB as he posted a .389 batting average (7-of-18) and a .944 slugging percentage in the four-game series ... He tallied three home runs on the weekend while scoring a team-high six runs and driving in four runs.
Senior right-hander Morgan Coombs was named the Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Week and the inaugural CollegeBaseball360.com National Primetime Pitcher of the week (Feb. 22) after leading the Cardinals to a 5-2 victory over nationally ranked Arkansas ... Coombs tossed 5.0 strong innings of relief and 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 the victory.
Vitek was also 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.
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 finally opens the home portion of the 2010 schedule next weekend after 23 straight road games ... The Cardinals will host Miami in a three-game series at Ball Diamond April 2-4.
