Kolbrin Vitek shutout the Bobcats for seven innings, allowing just two hits for his first victory of the season. That game, combined with him going 6-for-12 with three runs and two RBIs in the series, netted Vitek national player of the week honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
After losing the doubles point against UC Irvine to start the match, Ball State was in danger of letting another match slip away. That is when Ball State coach Bill Richards took a stand and got on his team.
Ball State (8-15) took two out of three games at Ohio University for their first series victory of the season. The Cardinals are tied for first in the MAC West with the three other teams who won twice this weekend.
The win secured Ball State's first series victory of the year to open the Mid-American Conference season. The Cardinals (8-15) split the first two games of the weekend, winning 10-1 Friday, before dropping the first game Saturday 4-2 and winning the second game 4-0.
The Ball State University track and field teams opened their outdoor campaigns Saturday afternoon at the Polar Bear Invitational on the Indiana Wesleyan University campus. The Cardinals posted four first-place finishes in the non-team-scoring event.
Ball State coach Nadalie Walsh said if Ball State could have had one more quality vault, the Cardinals would have passed the Eagles. And another high floor score would have let Ball State pass third-place Eastern Michigan University, she said.
Individual qualifiers — top scorers not on a qualifying team — in each region will be announced later in the day. All information will be available on the NCAA Web site at ncaa.org.
Junior Eric Steger, the Cardinals' top golfer, was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard following the first of two rounds Saturday. Last season, when Ball State won the same event as a team, Steger finished in third place individually.
After outside attacker Larry Wrather scored match point with a solo block, Ball State's bench cleared to celebrate on the court as the fans at Worthen Arena gave a standing ovation. It was the biggest celebration men's volleyball players had experienced this season.
The feeling of knocking off a top-five team was something the Ball State University middle attacker had never experienced in his career. It was even more meaningful to Nelson, though, because he out-played an All-American in the process of securing one of the biggest upsets in Ball State's 46-year program history.
The loss was the third time this season that the Cardinals have been shutout and pushes their overall record to 6-9 overall and 0-2 in the Mid-American Conference.
Ball State went from being swept by No. 3 Cal State Northridge on Friday night to returning the favor by sweeping the Matadors 30-24, 30-28, 30-22 Saturday night in Worthen Arena. It was Ball State's first victory against a ranked opponent in six attempts this season and the first time the Cardinals have defeated a top-five ranked team since defeating then-No. 4 IPFW in February 1999.
After splitting its first two matches in the invitational on Saturday, Ball State faced California Polytechnic State University in its last match. Cal Poly came into the match with a 3-10 record on year, but defeated the Cardinals 6-1.
As the Ball State University gymnastics team prepares to compete in today's Mid-American Conference championships starting at 2 p.m., here are 10 factors that will make or break the Cardinals', as well as the other teams, chances.
Ball State plays the University of Idaho first on today followed by another match based on results. Ball State is in the top half of the bracket and with four nationally-ranked teams.
The Cardinals (7-14) have played one of the hardest schedules in the country this year and the Bobcats (2-16) were a welcome relief from the top-15 teams that have populated Ball State's schedule.
Coach Joel Walton schemed everything right to prevent Cal State Northridge's All-American middle attacker Jacek Ratajczak from having a big night. The coach and Ball State, though, just couldn't stop the other starting middle attacker Kevin McKniff in the three-game loss.
Ball State goes up against teams of different levels of competition, including NCAA Division II, Division III and teams from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Coach Randy Heisler expects nothing short of a breakout performance by the team as a whole.
The Matadors went on a 16-7 run to close out game one after being down 15-14. History repeated itself in game two with tied score of 11 all before the Matadors ended the match on a 19-13 spurt.
Sophomore Kylee Johnson was the only one that had much success on the day for Ball State. Johnson and Katherine Rist claimed the only doubles victory for the team, winning 8-6 against Bowling Green's Katia Babina and Jade Johnson. Later on, Johnson earned a three-set victory in the No. 4 singles match over Maddy Eccleston (6-4, 2-6, 6-2) and won the only point on the day for Ball State.
