Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Travels To Miami For Three-Game Series
March 31, 2011 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State hits the road for the first time in Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it travels to Oxford, Ohio, for a three-game series against MAC East Division leader Miami at McKie Field at Hayden Park ... The Cardinals and RedHawks will open the series Friday night at 6 p.m., continue Saturday at 3 p.m. and conclude the set Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Ball State enters the weekend series with a 4-18 overall record, but a 2-1 mark in MAC play as it sits in third place in the MAC West Division ... The Cardinals posted a series victory over visiting Ohio to open league play last weekend ... Miami enters the weekend with a 12-12 overall record and a 3-0 mark in league play ... The RedHawks are the only MAC East team to sweep the opening weekend when they took all three against preseason MAC West Division favorite Central Michigan at home.
Series History . . .
Ball State and Miami have met 123 times prior to this weekend's three-game series ... The Cardinals trail the all-time series by a 68-55 margin, dating back to the first ever meeting April 6, 1927 (Miami 6, Ball State 1) ... Ball State is also just 21-40 all-time in Oxford and have not won a series on the road against the RedHawks since the 1997 season ... The Cardinals last travelled to Oxford during the 2007 season when the RedHawks posted a three-game sweep.
Last season, the Cardinals opened the home portion of the schedule with a three-game sweep of Miami ... Ball State posted a 6-3 victory Friday, an 11-7 win Saturday and a 17-8 victory Sunday afternoon ... Third baseman Stephen Claypool paced the Cardinals with five hits in the series, including a pair of home runs ... On the mound, Derek Grabner, Perci Garner and Cal Bowling picked up victories for the Cardinals with Bowling tossing 7.0 innings of four-hit baseball ... Miami was led by Jon Edgington offensively with five hits in the series while Jordan Jankowski posted three home runs ... On the mound, Tyler Melling, Mac Thoreson and Brooks Fiala all picked up losses in starts for the RedHawks.
This Weekend's Starters . . .
Ball State will send the same rotation to the mound for the fourth straight weekend in junior right-hander Cal Bowling Friday, senior left-hander Derek Grabner Saturday and senior right-hander Morgan Coombs Sunday .... Miami will counter with right-hander Mac Thoreson Friday, left-hander Tyler Melling Saturday and right-hander Brooks Fiala Sunday.
Bowling will be making his seventh start of the season Friday night ... He has a 2-1 record with a 3.18 ERA in 34.0 innings of work ... He has struck out 21 batters and walked 16 ... He is coming off his first career complete game as he tossed a two-hitter against Ohio last Friday.
Grabner will also be making his seventh start of the season Saturday ... He has an 0-2 record with a 4.86 ERA in 33.1 innings ... He has struck out 19 batters and walked 10 ... He posted a no decision against Ohio working 5.1 innings and allowing three runs, only one earned, on four hits ... He walked a season-high four batters as he entered the game with just six free passes issued.
Coombs will be making his fourth start and seventh appearance of the year after coming back from both elbow and knee surgeries last year ... He has a 1-3 record with a 4.32 ERA in 16.2 innings ... He has struck out 12 batters and walked 11 ... He picked up his first victory last Sunday as he tossed 6.0 shutout innings against the Bobcats allowing four hits and striking out five.
Thoreson will be making his seventh start of the season Friday night ... He has a 2-1 record with a 1.93 ERA in 42.0 innings of work ... He has struck out 32 batters and has walked 11 batters ... Last weekend, he picked up a no decision despite tossing 8.1 innings of one-run baseball against CMU as he struck out nine and allowed seven hits.
Melling will also be making his seventh start of the season ... He has a 5-0 record with a 2.00 ERA in 36.0 innings ... He has struck out 29 batters while only walking three ... He tallied his team-leading fifth win last weekend with 8.0 shutout innings over Central Michigan as he allowed just three hits and struck out five.
Fiala will be making his ninth appearance and third start of the year Sunday ... He has a 2-2 record with a 3.91 ERA in 25.1 innings of work ... He has struck out 14 batters while walking seven ... He garnered the victory last weekend over CMU as he tossed 6.1 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four.
Last Weekend . . .
The Cardinals opened Mid-American Conference play taking two out of three from visiting Ohio ... Ball State's pitching staff allowed just six runs in the three-game series, posting a 1.00 team ERA on the weekend ... The Cardinals limited Ohio to just a .132 batting average in the three games as they won Friday 2-1, lost Saturday 5-4 and won Sunday 1-0.
Offensively, sophomore Blake Beemer posted a .625 (5-of-8) batting average in the series and drove in two of the Cardinals' six runs on the weekend ... Billy Wellman added three hits, including a pair of doubles as seven of the Cardinals' 19 weekend hits were doubles.
On the mound, the Cardinals' starting rotation allowed 10 hits in 20.1 innings and only allowed two earned runs ... Freshman left-hander Devin Wilburn posted his first career save with 3.0 shutout innings Sunday to combine with Morgan Coombs for the 1-0 blanking of Ohio.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters the weekend with a 4-18 overall record and a 2-1 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Cardinals posted their first series victory of the year last weekend taking two of three from Ohio ... Ball State has scored 91 runs (4.17 runs/game) on the year and is batting .234 as a team ... The Cardinals own a 6.23 ERA as a team and opponents are batting .305 against BSU.
Junior second baseman Mitch Widau leads the team with a .328 batting average ... Widau is second on the team with 22 hits while leading the squad with 13 RBI and a .439 on-base percentage ... Sophomore Blake Beemer is second on the team with a .269 batting average ... Junior Cody Elliott leads the team with 23 hits while sophomore Kirby Campbell has scored a team-high 14 runs and has stolen a team-high eight bases.
In the bullpen, left-hander Jon Cisna has a 1.26 ERA in six appearances as he has worked 14.1 innings ... Right-hander Seth Hobbs has appeared in eighth games and has a 4.50 ERA in 12.0 innings ... Freshman left-hander Devin Wilburn has appeared in seven games and has a 5.40 ERA in 15.0 innings while posting the Cardinals' lone save.
Scouting The RedHawks . . .
Miami enters the weekend with a 12-12 overall record and a 3-0 record in Mid-American Conference play after sweeping MAC West favorite Central Michigan last weekend at home ... The RedHawks have scored 140 runs (5.83 runs/game) this season while owning a .273 team batting average ... On the mound, Miami has a 2.96 team ERA and is holding opponents to a .249 batting average.
Marcus Makuch leads the team with a .382 batting average despite only playing in 18 games ... Bryce Redeker is second on the team with a .367 batting average ... Redeker leads the team with 33 hits and nine doubles while being tied for the team-lead with 20 RBI ... Kyle Weldon also has driven in 20 runs while leading the team with 17 runs scored and four home runs.
In the bullpen, Brandon Adkins leads the team with 12 appearances and three saves ... Adkins has a 0.52 ERA in 17.1 innings of work as he has struck out 19 while walking eight ... Sam Dawes is second on the team with nine appearances and two saves ... Dawes has a 2.00 ERA in 9.0 innings of work as he has struck out nine while walking three.
BSU Picked Fourth In West . . .
Ball State was selected to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference West Division in the preseason poll ... The Cardinals finished last season with a 29-29 overall record and a 19-8 mark in MAC play as they finished tied for second place in the MAC West Division ... Ball State will have numerous spots to fill on the roster this season as it lost its 3-4-5-6 hole hitters as well as its Friday and Sunday starters to graduation and the Major League Baseball Draft.
Defending MAC Tournament champion Kent State was selected to finish first in the MAC East Division while defending regular season champion Central Michigan was tabbed for the top spot in the MAC West Division ... Additionally, Kent State was selected as the favorite for the 2011 MAC Tournament.
West Division
1. Central Michigan (69)
2. Toledo (60)
3. Eastern Michigan (46)
4. Ball State (37)
5. Northern Illinois (26)
6. Western Michigan (12)
East Division
1. Kent State (72)
2. Miami (53)
3. Bowling Green (50)
4. Ohio (35)
5. Akron (24)
6. Buffalo (16)
MAC Tournament: Kent State (5), Central Michigan (3), Toledo (2), Miami (1), Eastern Michigan (1).
Top Rated Arms . . .
The Cardinals received some preseason honors from the CollegeBaseballInsider.com in its annual Mid-American Conference preview ... Senior shortstop T.J. Baumet was chosen by the league's head coaches to have the best infield arm in the MAC ... Also, junior outfielder Cody Elliott was tabbed with the best outfield arm in the MAC.
Looking Ahead . . .
Ball State returns to midweek action Wednesday evening as it travels to Terre Haute for a meeting with Indiana State ... The Cardinals return home to Ball Diamond for the first of five straight as they host Bowling Green in a three-game series next weekend.
