Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Travels To Northern Illinois This Weekend
May 12, 2011 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
Ball State wraps up the road portion of the 2011 regular season this weekend as it travels to DeKalb, Ill., for a three-game series against Northern Illinois ... The Cardinals and Huskies are slated to play Friday at 3 p.m. (CT), Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT) and Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT) ... Ball State is battling for one of the eight spots in the 2011 Mid-American Conference Tournament ... The top three teams in each division automatically qualify for the tournament while the next two wild-card teams (in terms of winning percentage) are selected ... The Cardinals are currently 1.5 games behind Western Michigan for the eighth and final spot.
Live stats for all three games of the weekend series will be available at www.niuhuskies.com.
Series History . . .
Ball State and Northern Illinois have met 65 times prior to this weekend's three-game series ... The Cardinals hold a 36-28-1 record all-time against the Huskies ... Ball State has won six straight in the series with sweeps last season in Muncie and in 2009 in DeKalb ... In fact, the Cardinals have won eight straight games in DeKalb, with their last loss coming in 2002.
Last year, the Cardinals won game one by a 7-6 margin, game two by an 8-2 scored and the series finale with a 2-0 shutout ... Blake Beemer led the Cardinals offensively with four RBI on the weekend, including a pair of doubles ... Shortstop T.J. Baumet posted five hits and stole three bases in the series ... Cal Bowling posted a victory in the middle game of the series as he worked 6.1 innings of four-hit baseball and allowed just an unearned run ... Former Cardinal Kolbrin Vitek posted a complete game shutout in the series finale.
Northern Illinois was led by Dave Reynolds' five hits while Jamison Wells chipped in four hits ... Tom Barry picked up a loss on the mound despite working 7.1 innings of four-hit baseball as he allowed two runs ... Zach Oates made two appearances out of the bullpen and allowed one hit in 1.1 innings.
This Weekend's Starters . . .
Ball State will send junior right-hander Cal Bowling to the hill Friday, senior left-hander Derek Grabner Saturday and freshman left-hander Devin Wilburn Sunday ... Northern Illinois will counter with right-hander Zach Oates Friday, left-hander Tom Barry Saturday and right-hander Tony Manville Sunday.
Bowling will be making his team-leading 13th start of the season Friday ... He owns a 4-5 record with a 3.15 ERA ... He has tossed a team-high 74.1 innings, including three complete games, while striking out 43 and walking 25.
Grabner will be making his 14th appearance of the season and 12th start Saturday ... He has a 1-5 record with a 5.40 ERA in 65.0 innings of work ... He has struck out 40 while walking 30 ... He tossed 3.2 innings of relief last weekend against Western Michigan allowing three hits and an unearned run.
Wilburn will be making his second career start and his 16th appearance of the year Sunday ... He has a 1-1 record with a 5.54 ERA in 26.0 innings ... He has struck out 17 and walked 12 batters.
Oates will be making his 12th start of the year as he has a 4-5 record with a 4.15 ERA ... He has tossed a team-high 78.0 innings and has struck out 55 while walking 21 batters.
Barry will be making his 12th appearances and ninth start of the season ... He has a 3-5 record with a 3.48 ERA in 54.1 innings and has struck out 41 while walking 30.
Manville will be making his 19th appearance of the year and eighth start ... He has a 7-1 record with a 4.79 ERA in 56.1 innings ... He has struck out 34 while walking 31.
Scouting The Cardinals . . .
Ball State enters the weekend with a 12-32 overall record and an 8-12 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Cardinals have dropped seven straight and nine of their last 10 games ... Ball State is batting .258 as a team and has scored 208 runs (4.73 runs/game) ... On the mound, the Cardinals own a 5.88 team ERA and opponents are batting .297.
Junior center fielder Cody Elliott is second on the team with a .316 batting average ... Elliott leads the team in hits (56), runs (29), RBI (30), doubles (10), triples (5), stolen bases (14) and slugging percentage (.480) ... Junior third baseman Tim Issler has moved into the starting lineup and has a .337 batting average in 19 starts ... He has posted 28 hits, 26 of which have been singles ... Junior Mitch Widau chips in a .310 batting average with 44 hits and 23 RBI.
In the bullpen, right-hander Seth Hobbs has made 13 appearances and has a 4.67 ERA in 17.1 innings ... Right-hander Michael Sandman has appeared in 12 games and has a 5.14 ERA in 14.0 innings ... Sandman is one of four Cardinals to post a save this season.
Scouting The Huskies . . .
Northern Illinois enters the weekend with a 24-22 overall record and a 12-9 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Huskies took two out of three from Eastern Michigan last weekend ... Northern Illinois has a .277 team batting average and has scored 261 runs (5.67 runs/game) ... On the mound, the Huskies boast a 5.07 ERA and opponents are batting .285.
Alex Jones leads NIU with a .356 batting average ... Jones also leads the team in hits (68), RBI (39), doubles (15) and triples (5) ... Jeff Zimmerman is second on the team with a .329 batting average while leading the squad with seven home runs ... Jamison Wells leads the team with 21 stolen bases.
In the bullpen, Kyle Glancy is tied for the team lead with 19 appearances as the closer ... He has a 1.90 ERA in 23.1 innings while posting 10 saves ... Tom Zelasko has also appeared in 19 games and has a 7.31 ERA in 16.0 innings ... Zach Badgley has seen action in 17 games and has a 3.86 ERA in 16.1 innings.
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 . . .
The Cardinals close out the regular season the following weekend as they host Toledo in a three-game series.
