Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Travels To Missouri For Three-Game Series
March 01, 2012 | Baseball
What's On Tap . . .
The Cardinals continue their 20-game road swing to open the 2012 season with a three-game series in Columbia, Mo., against Big 12 foe Missouri at Taylor Stadium ... The Cardinals and Tigers will play Friday at 7 p.m. (ET), Saturday at 3 p.m. (ET) and Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET) ... All three games will be streamed online at www.mutigers.com.
Series History . . .
This weekend marks the second weekend series between Ball State and Missouri as the Cardinals travelled to Columbia for a four-game set in 2009 ... The Cardinals dropped three out of four to the Tigers that year ... Missouri won games by a 4-1, 18-4 and 7-6 margin while the Cardinals won the second game of the series 14-5.
Digital Guide Available Online . . .
The 2012 Ball State baseball digital guide is available online at www.ballstatesports.com on the baseball home page ... The interactive guide provides student-athlete and coach bios, program history and videos on the 2012 season.
Probable Starters . . .
Ball State will send out the weekend rotation of senior right-hander Cal Bowling Friday, sophomore left-hander Nestor Bautista Saturday and sophomore right-hander T.J. Weir Sunday ... Last weekend, the Cardinals' starting pitchers worked 21.0 innings and allowed just five runs while striking out 23 batters ... Missouri will counter with right-hander Eric Anderson Friday, left-hander Rob Zastryzny Saturday and right-hander Jeff Cline Sunday.
Bowling will be making his third start of the season Friday ... He has a 0-0 record with a 2.45 ERA as he has worked 14.2 innings in the first two weekends while striking out 13 batters and only walking two ... He worked into the ninth inning last weekend at UAB and allowed just two runs on five hits in the no decision as he struck out eight batters.
Bautista will be making his third start of the season and has a 0-1 record with a 7.56 ERA ... He has allowed seven runs on eight hits in 8.1 innings, mostly in his first start of the year ... Last weekend, he worked into the eighth inning and allowed just two hits while striking out a career-high seven ... He was perfect for the first 5.1 innings of the game and did not allow a run as the two teams went into the 12th inning before the game's first run was scored.
Weir made his first start of the season on the mound after making four starts at shortstop ... He worked 6.0 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits in the loss as he struck out a career-high eight batters.
Anderson will be making his third start of the season ... He has an 0-2 record despite a 2.70 ERA as he has worked 13.1 innings allowing four runs while striking out nine batters ... Last weekend, he picked up the loss to San Francisco despite allowing just two runs on seven hits in 7.1 innings.
Zastryzny will be making his third start of the year ... He has an 0-1 record with a 6.23 ERA in 8.2 innings ... He has allowed six runs while striking out six ... He picked up the loss last weekend to San Francisco allowing three runs on six hits in 5.1 innings.
Cline also will be making his third start of the season ... He has an 0-1 record with a 10.50 ERA in 6.0 innings ... He lasted just 1.1 innings last weekend in the loss to USF as he allowed four runs on four hits ... He has no struck out a batter this season while walking four.
Two-Way Standout . . .
Sophomore pitcher T.J. Weir has taken on the challenge of playing in the field on an everyday basis and pitching in the weekend rotation ... Weir is the Cardinals' starting shortstop and is their Sunday starter in the rotation.
Last weekend at UAB, Weir posted a .462 batting average (6-of-13) at the plate, worked 6.0 innings on the mound allowing just three runs and posting a 1.000 fielding percentage with six assists in the field.
Cardinals Name Captains . . .
Second-year head coach Alex Marconi announced that senior right-hander Cal Bowling and junior right fielder Blake Beemer were chosen as team captains this year ... Bowling is the Cardinals' top starting pitcher with a team-high 14 starts last season and a team-high 89.2 innings ... Beemer played in 48 games last year with 43 starts as he recorded a .273 batting average with 21 runs scored.
Cal Bowling Earns Weekly Honor . . .
Senior right-hander Cal Bowling was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Pitcher of the Week Tuesday for his efforts in the Cardinals' season-opening victory over Dayton ... Bowling worked 6.2 innings in his second season as the Cardinals' Friday starter and held the Flyers to just two earned runs and nine hits ... He struck out five batters while only walking one in the no decision despite leaving the game with a 3-1 lead ... This is the second MAC weekly honor of his career as he picked up the accolades last season after tossing a complete game shutout at Miami.
Looking Ahead . .
The Cardinals will head to Knoxville, Tenn., Wednesday for a midweek contest against the Tennessee Volunteers ... Ball State will stay in the Volunteer State next weekend for a three-game series against Middle Tennessee.
