Baseball Begins Spring Break Trek with Three Games in S.C.

Game #8 – Ball State at Coastal Carolina
Friday, March 2, 4 p.m.
Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Game #9 – Ball State vs. Radford
Saturday, March 3, 11 a.m.
Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Game #10 – Ball State vs. Maryland
Sunday, March 4, 11 a.m.
Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Projected Starting Pitchers (2018 stats)
Friday – Nick Floyd, RHP (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 3 Ks)
Saturday – John Baker, RHP (0-1, 8.38 ERA, 18 Ks)
Sunday – Kyle Nicolas, RHP (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 13 Ks)

Around the Horn
Opening Pitch: Ball State is beginning its annual Spring Break travels with its second trip to the Palmetto State in the opening three weekends. The Cardinals are scheduled to play eight times in 10 days starting with its March 2 contest at Coastal Carolina.

Also on the extended trip is a first-ever visit to Gardner-Webb and a return series to Western Carolina. WCU took two of three games in a series at Ball State last May.

Series History: This will mark the fourth straight year and fifth time in the last six seasons that Ball State has made a visit to Coastal Carolina. The Cardinals are 0-13 all-time against the Chanticleers. However, seven of the 13 games were decided by one or two runs. Coastal edged Ball State, 1-0, on a sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning on Feb. 24, 2017.

The Cardinals have only faced Radford one time and that happened back in 2003. Ball State broke up a 7-7 tie with two runs in the eighth inning to tally a 9-8 win on March 15, 2003.

Ball State defeated Maryland in the only other meeting between the two teams on opening day in 2017. The Cardinals used a five-run sixth inning to defeat No. 22 Maryland on Feb. 17, 2017, 8-3. Senior 2B Seth Freed had two hits and scored three times in that win. Senior OF Colin Brockhouse struck out eight batters in 4.1 innings of relief to earn the victory on the mound.

This and That: Some random stats heading into the weekend …

• There are 15 newcomers on the roster this season, the most in coach Rich Maloney's tenure at Ball State. Seven of the newcomers have made at least one start.

• Nine of Ball State's 12 extra-base hits have come in two games this season – Feb. 16 vs. UMass Lowell (2 home runs, 3 doubles) and Feb. 24 vs. Iowa (3 home runs and 1 double).

• Ball State pitching ranks fifth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (12.4). The Cardinals only trail Mercer (13.1), Stetson (12.9), Florida State (12.8) and ETSU (12.4).

• The Cardinals were 20-1 when recording at least 10 hits in 2017. Ball State is 2-0 when reaching 10 hits this season.

Baseball Begins Spring Break Trek with Three Games in S.C.

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Players Mentioned

John Baker

Colin Brockhouse

Nick Floyd

Seth Freed

Kyle Nicolas