Baseball Set to Begin Season with Games vs St. John's, Stetson and Minnesota in Florida

Friday, February 13

DeLand, Fla.

Noon

Ball State University

St. John's

Photo by: Caden Vincent

Baseball Set to Begin Season with Games vs St. John's, Stetson and Minnesota in Florida

February 12, 2026 | Baseball

Game 1 vs. St. John's Live Stats Game 2 vs St. John's Live Stats Game 3 at Stetson Watch Game 3 at Stetson Live Stats Game 4 vs Minnesota Live Stats

The Ball State baseball team is set to begin its season with four games in Florida this weekend including the season opener on Friday with St. John's.

After the Noon first pitch on Friday vs the Red Storm, both teams will play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. Ball State next plays Stetson at 6 p.m., Saturday night and Minnesota at 9:30 a.m., on Sunday morning to wrap up the weekend at Melching Field in DeLand, Fla.

Links to live stats for each game can be found above and on the schedule page. The game on Saturday evening against Stetson will feature a video broadcast which can be found at the link above.

Ball State went 36-22 (21-9 Mid-American Conference) last year for a third-place finish in the MAC. The Cardinals lost five All-MAC performers but return two-time First Team selection Keegan Johnson to headline the pitching rotation. Ball State's 2026 roster features 23 newcomers and 15 returners.

Head coach Rich Maloney enters his 21^st season at Ball State and 31^st overall as a head coach with 1,024 career wins.

Score updates for each game will be posted to the team account on X (@BallStateBB), and schedule updates will be communicated on the website and team social media platforms.

K IS FOR KEEGAN: Junior Keegan Johnson is a two-time First Team All-MAC selection and most recently posted a 7-3 record and 75 strikeouts in 14 starts during his sophomore campaign.

The left-handed hurler received MAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year and Top MAC Draft Prospect accolades leading up to the season from the D1Baseball online publication along with being named a Top-200 starting pitcher nationally (No. 167).

NEW LOOK OFFENSE: Senior Gavin Balius is the lone returning Ball State hitter with more than 100 at bats last season. Balius produced a .303/.343/.407 slash line in 178 at bats while tallying a team high 22 steals in 2025.

Senior Ben Giovannetti (90 at bats) and junior Max Kalk (46) are the next two Cardinals with the most times to plate last season. Senior Brett Griffiths (40 at bats) and sophomores DJ Scheumann (25), Brayden Huebner (23) and John Colligan (19) will look to get more experience swinging the bat in their second seasons at Ball State.

DEFENSIVE DYNAMOS: Ball State finished the 2025 season with the fourth-best fielding percentage in NCAA Division I at .983 (only 34 errors in 1,993 opportunities).

The Cardinals concluded the regular season with the top fielding percentage in the country (.984) but got passed up in the postseason.

VETERAN BULLPEN: The Ball State bullpen returns multiple veterans who were relied upon in 2025 including Alex Burden, John Chambers, Owen Quinn and Zach Leduc.

Quinn posted a team-best 4.01 ERA along with a 4-3 record, 1.28 WHIP and 46 strikeouts in 51.2 innings pitched last year. Chambers (six strikeouts in 5.2 innings of shutout ball in the win vs Eastern Michigan) and Burden (six strikeouts in 5.2 innings of two-run ball vs Kent State) were heavily relied upon in crucial MAC Tournament contests in 2025.