Thursday, April 17
Bowling Green, Ohio
3 PM
Ball State University
at
Bowling Green
Photo by: Amber Pietz, Ball State Creative Services
Baseball Beginning Series at Bowling Green at 3 p.m. on Thursday
April 16, 2025 | Baseball
The Ball State baseball team is set to play a three-game series at Mid-American Conference contender Bowling Green beginning at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Subsequent contests are scheduled for 1 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday in advance of Easter Sunday. Links to the broadcasts and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
The Cardinals (27-11, 13-2 MAC) won 3-2 at Butler on Tuesday to complete a season sweep of the Bulldogs. Ball State rode contributions from seven pitchers and run-scoring hits by Max Kalk and Nick Husovsky to take the road triumph.
The Falcons (24-11, 12-6) currently stand at fourth in the league standings behind the first-place Cardinals, Miami (OH) and Kent State. Bowling Green bested Purdue Fort Wayne 15-5 on the road on Tuesday afternoon after going 1-2 at Western Michigan last weekend.
Kyle Hallock is in his fifth season leading the Falcons, who won the MAC regular season title with a 24-6 record in 2024. Bowling Green was projected to finish fourth in this year's preseason poll.
Bowling Green has the best batting average (.298) and second-most walks (178) and hits (368) among MAC teams while posting the third-best ERA (5.89) and sixth-most runs per game (7.3).
Senior right-handed pitcher Connar Penrod's nine saves are the most in the conference and third in NCAA Division I, while sophomore catcher Garrett Wright leads the league in on base percentage (.503) while ranking second in batting average (.392) and getting hit by pitches (17).
After this weekend, the next scheduled game for the Cardinals is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday against Indiana at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
HUSOVSKY HITS: Senior Nick Husovsky has been a steady contributor to the Ball State offense as one of three Cardinals to start in every game so far this season.
The utility man out of Ramona, Calif., leads Ball State in RBI (40) while ranking second in walks (18), third in doubles (eight), and fourth in batting average (.310) and home runs (seven). Husovsky has nine games with multiple runs batted in this year including three with two, three with three, two with four and one with five, which happened in Sunday's series finale against Northern Illinois.
BIG TIME BATTLE AND CHANCES FOR REVENGE: Ball State and Bowling Green enter the weekend ranking first and fourth, respectively, in the Mid-American Conference standings, with the series having MAC Tournament seeding implications.
Both teams have reasons to look for revenge, as Bowling Green swept a series in Muncie in March of 2024, while the Cardinals knocked the Falcons out of the MAC Tournament in late May of 2024.
DUAL ACES: The duo of Keegan Johnson and Jacob Hartlaub have solidified their status as two of the top starting pitchers in the Mid-American Conference as they stand at or near the top of the MAC leaderboards in multiple categories.
Johnson leads the league in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.16) and is second in wins (six) and third in ERA (3.08) and strikeouts (50), while Hartlaub is first in strikeouts (52), second in ERA (2.98) and WHIP (1.10) and third in wins (five) and hits allowed per nine innings (6.96) among qualifiers so far this year.
CLEAN FIELDING AND TURNING TWO: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranking second in the country with a .986 fielding percentage.
Ball State has committed 18 errors in 1,323 opportunities this year through the first 38 games. Ball State is 11th nationally in double plays turned at 34.
BLAZING SPEED BY BALIUS AND JACOBS: Outfielders Gavin Balius (16) and Clay Jacobs (14) rank first and third in the MAC in stolen bases.
Balius has stolen multiple bags in four games this year, while Jacobs swiped two bases in a pair of contests.
RICHTER REACHES BASE: Senior Alex Richter has been hit by a pitch 22 times this year, which is tied for the most in NCAA Division I.
The third baseman is only two HBP away from tying Ryan Read's program record of 24 set in 1995.
TOP PITCHING PERFORMANCE: The Ball State pitching staff currently paces the MAC in multiple statistical categories.
The Cardinals' arms are first in ERA (5.09), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (8.36), strikeouts per nine innings (9.1) and WHIP (1.41)
GARZA GETTING IT DONE: One of the pitchers contributing to the team's success is freshman Brendan Garza, who was credited with the win in Tuesday's 3-2 decision at Butler after striking out three in 2.1 innings of shutout ball.
Garza has piled up 14 punchouts in 10.2 innings while tallying a 3.38 ERA out of the bullpen during his freshman campaign.
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Subsequent contests are scheduled for 1 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday in advance of Easter Sunday. Links to the broadcasts and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
The Cardinals (27-11, 13-2 MAC) won 3-2 at Butler on Tuesday to complete a season sweep of the Bulldogs. Ball State rode contributions from seven pitchers and run-scoring hits by Max Kalk and Nick Husovsky to take the road triumph.
The Falcons (24-11, 12-6) currently stand at fourth in the league standings behind the first-place Cardinals, Miami (OH) and Kent State. Bowling Green bested Purdue Fort Wayne 15-5 on the road on Tuesday afternoon after going 1-2 at Western Michigan last weekend.
Kyle Hallock is in his fifth season leading the Falcons, who won the MAC regular season title with a 24-6 record in 2024. Bowling Green was projected to finish fourth in this year's preseason poll.
Bowling Green has the best batting average (.298) and second-most walks (178) and hits (368) among MAC teams while posting the third-best ERA (5.89) and sixth-most runs per game (7.3).
Senior right-handed pitcher Connar Penrod's nine saves are the most in the conference and third in NCAA Division I, while sophomore catcher Garrett Wright leads the league in on base percentage (.503) while ranking second in batting average (.392) and getting hit by pitches (17).
After this weekend, the next scheduled game for the Cardinals is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday against Indiana at Victory Field in Indianapolis.
HUSOVSKY HITS: Senior Nick Husovsky has been a steady contributor to the Ball State offense as one of three Cardinals to start in every game so far this season.
The utility man out of Ramona, Calif., leads Ball State in RBI (40) while ranking second in walks (18), third in doubles (eight), and fourth in batting average (.310) and home runs (seven). Husovsky has nine games with multiple runs batted in this year including three with two, three with three, two with four and one with five, which happened in Sunday's series finale against Northern Illinois.
BIG TIME BATTLE AND CHANCES FOR REVENGE: Ball State and Bowling Green enter the weekend ranking first and fourth, respectively, in the Mid-American Conference standings, with the series having MAC Tournament seeding implications.
Both teams have reasons to look for revenge, as Bowling Green swept a series in Muncie in March of 2024, while the Cardinals knocked the Falcons out of the MAC Tournament in late May of 2024.
DUAL ACES: The duo of Keegan Johnson and Jacob Hartlaub have solidified their status as two of the top starting pitchers in the Mid-American Conference as they stand at or near the top of the MAC leaderboards in multiple categories.
Johnson leads the league in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.16) and is second in wins (six) and third in ERA (3.08) and strikeouts (50), while Hartlaub is first in strikeouts (52), second in ERA (2.98) and WHIP (1.10) and third in wins (five) and hits allowed per nine innings (6.96) among qualifiers so far this year.
CLEAN FIELDING AND TURNING TWO: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranking second in the country with a .986 fielding percentage.
Ball State has committed 18 errors in 1,323 opportunities this year through the first 38 games. Ball State is 11th nationally in double plays turned at 34.
BLAZING SPEED BY BALIUS AND JACOBS: Outfielders Gavin Balius (16) and Clay Jacobs (14) rank first and third in the MAC in stolen bases.
Balius has stolen multiple bags in four games this year, while Jacobs swiped two bases in a pair of contests.
RICHTER REACHES BASE: Senior Alex Richter has been hit by a pitch 22 times this year, which is tied for the most in NCAA Division I.
The third baseman is only two HBP away from tying Ryan Read's program record of 24 set in 1995.
TOP PITCHING PERFORMANCE: The Ball State pitching staff currently paces the MAC in multiple statistical categories.
The Cardinals' arms are first in ERA (5.09), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (8.36), strikeouts per nine innings (9.1) and WHIP (1.41)
GARZA GETTING IT DONE: One of the pitchers contributing to the team's success is freshman Brendan Garza, who was credited with the win in Tuesday's 3-2 decision at Butler after striking out three in 2.1 innings of shutout ball.
Garza has piled up 14 punchouts in 10.2 innings while tallying a 3.38 ERA out of the bullpen during his freshman campaign.
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