Ball State Cardinals baseball

The Ball State Cardinals baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, United States.^[2] The team is a member of the Mid-American Conference West division, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. Ball State's first baseball team was fielded in 1920. The team plays its home games at Ball Diamond in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals are coached by Rich Maloney.

Ball State Cardinals baseball
2025 Ball State Cardinals baseball team
Founded	1920; 105 years ago (1920)
University	Ball State University
Head coach	Rich Maloney (20th overall season)
Conference	Mid–American
Location	Muncie, Indiana
Home stadium	Ball Diamond (Capacity: 1,700)
Nickname	Cardinals
Colors	Cardinal and white[1]
NCAA tournament appearances
1965, 1969, 2006, 2023
Conference tournament champions
2006, 2023
Conference regular season champions
1998, 1999, 2001, 2014, 2022
Conference division regular season champions
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2016 (divisions ended after 2017 season)

Ball State In The NCAA Tournament

Year	Record	Pct	Notes
1965	0–2	.000	District 4
1969	2–2	.500	District 4
2006	1–2	.333	Lexington Regional
2023	0–2	.000	Lexington Regional
TOTALS	3-8	.273

First-Round MLB Draft Picks/Draft Picks

Ball State Baseball has the most First Rounders in the MAC. Including the 1st overall pick in Bryan Bullington in 2002 which was the first time ever in all MAC sports history. In total Ball State has had 78 draft picks in their history.

Pick	Player	Team	Position	Year
11	Thomas Howard	San Diego Padres	OF	1986
41	Jeff Urban	San Francisco Giants	LHP	1998
21	Larry Bigbie	Baltimore Orioles	OF	1999
1	Bryan Bullington	Pittsburgh Pirates	RHP	2002
32	Luke Hagerty	Chicago Cubs	LHP	2002
18	Brad Snyder	Cleveland Indians	OF	2003
20	Kolbrin Vitek	Boston Redsox	RHP/2B	2010
34	Drey Jameson	Arizona Diamondbacks	RHP	2019

Players to Reach the Major Leagues

Ball State Baseball has had 16 Players reach the Major Leagues.

• Merv Rettenmund
• Mike Roesler
• Thomas Howard (baseball)
• Larry Bigbie
• Sam McConnell
• Bryan Bullington
• Brad Snyder
• Dean Anna
• Jeremy Hazelbaker
• Perci Garner
• Zach Plesac
• Alex Call
• Drey Jameson
• Kyle Nicolas
• CJ Alexander
• Chayce McDermott

MAC Awards

As of 2024^[update], Ball State has had eight players named the MAC Baseball Player of the Year, the most of any school in the conference.

MAC Player of the Year[3] Name Year Thomas Howard 1986 Ed Farris 1996 Larry Bigbie 1999 Shayne Ridley 2000 Brad Snyder 2003 Kolbrin Vitek 2010 Sean Godfrey 2014 Alex Call 2016

MAC Freshman of the Year[3] Larry Bigbie 1997 Justin Wechsler 1999 Bryan Bullington 2000 Ben Snyder 2005 Jarett Ridfleisch 2014 Drey Jameson 2018 Ryan Brown 2022 Keegan Johnson 2024

MAC Pitcher of the Year[3] Name Year Bryan Bullington 2001, 2002 Erik Morrison 2005 Scott Baker 2013 Drey Jameson 2019 Tyler Schweitzer 2022 Merritt Beeker 2024

MAC Coach of the Year[3] Name Year Rich Maloney 1998, 2001, 2014, 2022

MAC Defensive Player of Year[3] Name Year Chase Sebby 2019, 2021 Ryan Peltier 2022 Michael Hallquist 2024

Stadium

• Fully turf

• All chair back seating

• Video Scoreboard

• Brick stadium with bathrooms and concession stand

• Padded fence all around the field with graphics

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball programs