Friday, March 21
Cincinnati, Ohio
3 PM
Ball State University
at
Xavier
Photo by: Kolbi Media
Baseball Heading Down to Cincy to Play Xavier this Weekend
March 20, 2025 | Baseball
*Sunday's game has been moved up to Saturday, which will feature a doubleheader starting at 11:30 a.m.
The Ball State baseball team takes a week off from Mid-American Conference play to face Xavier for a three-game set in Cincinnati slated to begin at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Griffin Leonard will be on the call for a free audio broadcast, while fans can watch a video stream on AWRE TV with no announcers. Links to those and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
Ball State (16-6) beat Butler 17-7 on Wednesday after disposing of Valparaiso 14-10 on Tuesday. The Cardinals have gone 10-1 in their last 11 games with an 8-1 record in their recent nine-game homestand.
Xavier (8-13) boasts a No. 3 RPI ranking nationally thanks to games against national powerhouses such as LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Oregon State bolstering its strength of schedule. The Musketeers most recently dropped 2 of 3 games at Tulane last weekend before getting a bye on midweek games.
Head coach Billy O'Conner is in his eighth season leading the Musketeers, who were picked to finish second in the eight-team Big East preseason poll.
Xavier leads its conference in getting hit by a pitch (34) while ranking second in walks (107) and double plays turned (17).
Senior outfielder Carter Hendrickson is first in the Big East and sixth nationally with 12 HBP and leads the team at 16 RBI to go along with his three home runs and .274 average. Sophomore Jake Lambdin leads the team in hits (24), runs (16), batting average (.324) and saves (two) while starting each of the 21 Xavier games this year.
Following this weekend, the Cardinals are scheduled to host USI at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
1,000 CAREER WINS: Head coach Rich Maloney hit the 1,000-win milestone with the 13-10 triumph over Purdue Fort Wayne on March 11.
Maloney is the 10th active skipper to reach the milestone among NCAA Division I coaches. The group consists of Paul Mainieri (South Carolina, 1,522 wins), Danny Hall (Georgia Tech, 1,428), Elliott Avent (NC State, 1,275), Dave Van Horn (Arkansas, 1,274), Rich Hill (Hawaii, 1,187), Steve Owens (Rutgers, 1,055), Rick Heller (Iowa, 1,052), Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt, 1,043), and Mike
Bianco (Ole Miss, 1,021). Of the nine ahead of Maloney, only Hall, Mainieri, Avent, Van Horn and Bianco have more wins at the Division I level.
Another milestone Maloney reached is 500 conference wins thanks to last Friday's 12-2 win over Toledo. The skipper is currently at 501, with 361 of those being in the MAC and 140 in the Big Ten.
DAVIS DOES DAMAGE: Junior Ty Davis hit home runs in each of his first three plate appearances in Tuesday afternoon's 14-10 win over Valparaiso.
The utility man is 1 of only 14 NCAA Division I players with a three-homer game this year and the first Ball State player to accomplish the feat since Ryan Peltier on April 23, 2023 against Northern Illinois.
JACOBSON ENJOYS BEATING THE BULLDOGS: Graduate pitcher Will Jacobson struck out six in 3.1 innings of shutout ball out of the bullpen to earn the win on Wednesday afternoon vs Butler.
The lefty now has three career wins, with all of them coming against the Bulldogs. Ball State plays at Butler on April 15.
CATCHERS CRUSH: The trio of Garrett Arnold, Max Kalk and DJ Scheumann have proven to be dangerous with the bat in the first month of the season.
Arnold is batting .438 and hit a walkoff on Sunday against Toledo, while Kalk went 4-for-4 on Wednesday against Butler to raise his season batting average to .500. Scheumann hit a go-ahead home run in the Feb. 15 win over Maryland.
PROFICIENT PITCHING: The Ball State pitching staff paces the league in ERA (5.42), WHIP (1.49) and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (8.81).
Keegan Johnson (4-0, 2.73 ERA, 28 strikeouts in 29.2 innings) and Jacob Hartlaub (3-1, 2.57 ERA, 32 strikeouts in 28.0 innings) have been leading the starting staff.
RICHTER RAKING AND TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM: Senior Alex Richter has hit five home runs in in the last eight games to move into second on the team with five total homers this year.
The third baseman sets the tone at the top of the order with a .446 OBP largely thanks to being hit by a pitch 14 times this year which is the most in the MAC and third-most in NCAA Division I.
CLEAN FIELDING: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranking first in the country with a .988 average.
Ball State has committed nine errors in 770 opportunities this year through the first 22 games. Ball State also paces the nation in double plays turned at 23.
BREAKING OUT THE BATS: Ball State has scored 10+ runs in five of its last seven games and seven times overall this season. The Cardinals are first in the league in total runs (172) and third in runs per game (7.8).
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The Ball State baseball team takes a week off from Mid-American Conference play to face Xavier for a three-game set in Cincinnati slated to begin at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Griffin Leonard will be on the call for a free audio broadcast, while fans can watch a video stream on AWRE TV with no announcers. Links to those and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
Ball State (16-6) beat Butler 17-7 on Wednesday after disposing of Valparaiso 14-10 on Tuesday. The Cardinals have gone 10-1 in their last 11 games with an 8-1 record in their recent nine-game homestand.
Xavier (8-13) boasts a No. 3 RPI ranking nationally thanks to games against national powerhouses such as LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Oregon State bolstering its strength of schedule. The Musketeers most recently dropped 2 of 3 games at Tulane last weekend before getting a bye on midweek games.
Head coach Billy O'Conner is in his eighth season leading the Musketeers, who were picked to finish second in the eight-team Big East preseason poll.
Xavier leads its conference in getting hit by a pitch (34) while ranking second in walks (107) and double plays turned (17).
Senior outfielder Carter Hendrickson is first in the Big East and sixth nationally with 12 HBP and leads the team at 16 RBI to go along with his three home runs and .274 average. Sophomore Jake Lambdin leads the team in hits (24), runs (16), batting average (.324) and saves (two) while starting each of the 21 Xavier games this year.
Following this weekend, the Cardinals are scheduled to host USI at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
1,000 CAREER WINS: Head coach Rich Maloney hit the 1,000-win milestone with the 13-10 triumph over Purdue Fort Wayne on March 11.
Maloney is the 10th active skipper to reach the milestone among NCAA Division I coaches. The group consists of Paul Mainieri (South Carolina, 1,522 wins), Danny Hall (Georgia Tech, 1,428), Elliott Avent (NC State, 1,275), Dave Van Horn (Arkansas, 1,274), Rich Hill (Hawaii, 1,187), Steve Owens (Rutgers, 1,055), Rick Heller (Iowa, 1,052), Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt, 1,043), and Mike
Bianco (Ole Miss, 1,021). Of the nine ahead of Maloney, only Hall, Mainieri, Avent, Van Horn and Bianco have more wins at the Division I level.
Another milestone Maloney reached is 500 conference wins thanks to last Friday's 12-2 win over Toledo. The skipper is currently at 501, with 361 of those being in the MAC and 140 in the Big Ten.
DAVIS DOES DAMAGE: Junior Ty Davis hit home runs in each of his first three plate appearances in Tuesday afternoon's 14-10 win over Valparaiso.
The utility man is 1 of only 14 NCAA Division I players with a three-homer game this year and the first Ball State player to accomplish the feat since Ryan Peltier on April 23, 2023 against Northern Illinois.
JACOBSON ENJOYS BEATING THE BULLDOGS: Graduate pitcher Will Jacobson struck out six in 3.1 innings of shutout ball out of the bullpen to earn the win on Wednesday afternoon vs Butler.
The lefty now has three career wins, with all of them coming against the Bulldogs. Ball State plays at Butler on April 15.
CATCHERS CRUSH: The trio of Garrett Arnold, Max Kalk and DJ Scheumann have proven to be dangerous with the bat in the first month of the season.
Arnold is batting .438 and hit a walkoff on Sunday against Toledo, while Kalk went 4-for-4 on Wednesday against Butler to raise his season batting average to .500. Scheumann hit a go-ahead home run in the Feb. 15 win over Maryland.
PROFICIENT PITCHING: The Ball State pitching staff paces the league in ERA (5.42), WHIP (1.49) and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (8.81).
Keegan Johnson (4-0, 2.73 ERA, 28 strikeouts in 29.2 innings) and Jacob Hartlaub (3-1, 2.57 ERA, 32 strikeouts in 28.0 innings) have been leading the starting staff.
RICHTER RAKING AND TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM: Senior Alex Richter has hit five home runs in in the last eight games to move into second on the team with five total homers this year.
The third baseman sets the tone at the top of the order with a .446 OBP largely thanks to being hit by a pitch 14 times this year which is the most in the MAC and third-most in NCAA Division I.
CLEAN FIELDING: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranking first in the country with a .988 average.
Ball State has committed nine errors in 770 opportunities this year through the first 22 games. Ball State also paces the nation in double plays turned at 23.
BREAKING OUT THE BATS: Ball State has scored 10+ runs in five of its last seven games and seven times overall this season. The Cardinals are first in the league in total runs (172) and third in runs per game (7.8).
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