Baseball Opens MAC Schedule Against Preseason Favorite Kent State

Game #21 –Ball State at Kent State
Friday, March 23, 3 p.m.
Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Game #22 – Ball State at Kent State
Saturday, March 24, 3 p.m.
Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Game #23 – Ball State at Kent State
Sunday, March 25, 1 p.m.
Live Video | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Projected Starting Pitchers (2018 stats)
Friday – John Baker, RHP (2-2, 4.60 ERA, 49 Ks)
Saturday – Kyle Nicolas, RHP (2-2, 4.01 ERA, 28 Ks)
Sunday – TBD

Around the Horn
Opening Pitch:
Ball State opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend at preseason favorite Kent State. This is the first of nine straight weekends of league action.

The Golden Flashes picked up eight of the 10 first place votes in the preseason poll. Kent State won the MAC regular season title last spring with an 18-6 record.

Ball State was tabbed third out of 10 teams in the preseason poll. The Cardinals went 8-4 in MAC road games last season and finished 14-10 overall in the league.

Series History:
Kent State has won five straight games against Ball State and leads the all-time series by a count of 67-52.

The Golden Flashes swept a three-game series at Ball State last March. 2B Seth Freed hit .556 (5-of-9) with a home run and triple in three starts. Kent State averaged 7.0 runs per game, hit .371 and also stole six bases in the sweep.

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

• Ball State posted a league-best .313 batting average in MAC games in 2017. Meanwhile, Kent State ranked first in team ERA (2.44) against conference foes last year.

• Ten of Ball State's 11 home runs have come when a runner has been on base. Ball State's lone solo homer was also its most recent – OF Colin Brockhouse tallied a home run in the 3-2 win over Dayton on March 18.

• The Cardinals racked up five stolen bases in the win at Dayton on March 17, their most in nearly two years.

• C/OF Griffin Hulecki has reached base in 14 consecutive games. OF Jeff Riedel is riding a nine game hitting streak.

• OF Colin Brockhouse is the only Cardinal to start all 20 games at the same position – center field.

Baseball Opens MAC Schedule Against Preseason Favorite Kent State

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Players Mentioned

John Baker

Colin Brockhouse

Seth Freed

Griffin Hulecki

Kyle Nicolas

Jeff Riedel