Baseball 2024 Season in Review

The Ball State baseball team won at least 35 games for the fifth straight full season, had three of the Mid-American Conference individual postseason specialty awards and rewrote the record books for power in 2024.

The Cardinals finished third in the MAC regular season standings after beginning the year 1-7 in league play. Ball State won its final seven conference series to earn the No. 3 seed at the MAC Tournament in Avon, Ohio, where the Cardinals would finish as the runners-up.

Senior shortstop Michael Hallquist ended the year with 21 home runs, which tied him with Brad Miller (2006) for the second-most in a season in program history. Hallquist began the year at third base before moving over to shortstop and was voted the MAC Defensive Player of the Year along with earning First Team All-Conference honors.

Junior left-handed pitcher Merritt Beeker took home the MAC Pitcher of the Year award with a 9-3 record and 128 strikeouts in 81.0 innings pitched, wrapping up the campaign with a 4.11 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. Beeker ended the season with a bang in a 12-strikeout complete game gem against Toledo in the first round of the conference tournament. The East Carolina transfer led the league and finished Top 10 in NCAA Division I in strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings (14.22).

Freshman left-handed pitcher Keegan Johnson had hype as D1Baseball.com's MAC Preseason Freshman of the Year, and he did not disappoint. Johnson went 8-3 with 83 strikeouts in 65.1 frames and concluded his rookie campaign with a 4.96 ERA while being honored with MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-Conference accolades.

As a team, the Cardinals advanced to the MAC Tournament championship game for the fourth straight year and hit the third-most homers in a year in program history (90). Junior catcher Hunter Dobbins (18 home runs) competed with Hallquist towards the end of the season to see who would hit the most blasts on the team, while sophomore first baseman Blake Bevis hit 12 as another Cardinal in double-digits in the power category.

Ball State continued its recent run of success, as the program has gone 194-111 (118-46 MAC) since 2019 (not including 2020). The program's .636 winning percentage and .720 in MAC play are both tops in the league over the last five years. Ball State has won eight more MAC games in that span than second place Central Michigan's 110.

Head coach Rich Maloney upped his career wins total to 988 and conference wins to 496 and will look to get to major milestones during his 30^th season as a manager in 2025.

"I'm proud of the way our boys battled back from a poor MAC start," said Maloney. "A lot of teams would've died, but these young men fought back, winning their last seven series and then made a nice run in the MAC Tournament. Even though we fell short of our ultimate goal of making the NCAA Tournament, the boys won 35 games, which was the most in the MAC. Seeing several of our guys recognized for individual honors is always gratifying. Looking forward to trying to go further next year."

MAC Pitchers of the Week
March 25 – Keegan Johnson
April 1 – Merritt Beeker
April 8 – Keegan Johnson
May 6 – Nate Blain

MAC Players of the Week
April 15 – Hunter Dobbins
May 20 – Blake Bevis

MAC Specialty Awards
Pitcher of the Year – Merritt Beeker
Freshman Pitcher of the Year – Keegan Johnson
Defensive Player of the Year – Michael Hallquist

First Team All-MAC
Merritt Beeker
Keegan Johnson
Michael Hallquist

Second Team All-MAC
Blake Bevis
Hunter Dobbins

Buster Posey Award Watchlist
Hunter Dobbins

Players Mentioned

Merritt Beeker

Blake Bevis

Nate Blain

Hunter Dobbins

Michael Hallquist

Keegan Johnson

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