DATE/OPPONENTS

Sept 3 at Iowa
Sept 10 BOWLING GREEN
Sept 17 at Auburn
Oct 1 at Boston College
Oct 8 at Western Michigan
Oct 15 TOLEDO (Homecoming)
Oct 22 at Ohio
Oct 29 at Northern Illinois
Nov 5 AKRON (Family Weekend)
Nov 12 at Eastern Michigan
Nov 19 CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Dec 1 MAC CHAMPIONSHIP
[ESPN/7:30pm (ET)]
Ford Field–Detroit

Four inducted into Sports Medicine honor society

Ball State inducted four new members into the Cardinal Sports Medicine Society Ring of Honor at the NCAA Hall of Champions in  Indianapolis in June.

They are: Rex Sharp,'79; John Clouse, '50MA60; Jackie Kingma, '81; and Jim Russ, '74.

The Cardinal Sports Medicine Society and the Ring of Honor was established in 2000 to honor those elite professionals who have made significant contributions to the rich tradition of Ball State's athletic training program.

Sharp spent 11 years as head athletic trainer at BSU. A native of New Albany, he has been head trainer at the University of Missouri since 1996. In addition to his training duties at Missouri, Sharp is completing his third year as chairman of the Big 12 Conference Medical Aspects of Sports committee, and serves as one of ten collegiate athletic trainers on the College and University Athletic Trainers committee.

Clouse was employed at the Ball State Health Center from 1969 through 1997, and spent a number of those years as Ball State's team physician.

Kingma was a member of the women's basketball team from 1977-79 and the women's lacrosse team in 1978. She is an associate professor at the University of Arizona and has been on the Arizona board of Athletic Training since 2000.

In addition, Kingma served as chairman of the A.T. Still University/Mesa Campus Institutional Review Board from 2001-04. 

Russ has just completed his 19th year as Notre Dame's head athletic trainer and physical therapist. Prior to going to Notre Dame in 1986, Russ served a three-year stint as the head athletic trainer of the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League. He held the same position    at the University of Florida for two seasons.

American Baseball Coaches Association honors three Cardinals

Three Ball State baseball players are 2005 NCAA All- Mideast Region selections chosen by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Senior closer Erik Morrison, '05 (Hanover/Southwestern H.S.), was named to the first team, while junior second baseman Kyle Dygert (Angola/Angola H.S.), and junior outfielder Mike Sullivan (Valparaiso/Valparaiso H.S.) were named to the second team.

Morrison, who signed a free agent contract with the New York Yankees, is playing for the Class-A short-season Staten Island Yankees.

The 2005 Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year and All-MAC First Team selection, Morrison was a finalist for the first-ever National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award. He also was named to the Louisville Slugger All-America Second Team.

Morrison finished his 2005 season with a league-leading and school record 15 saves, which tied him for third in the nation. In addition to his save total, Morrison tallied a perfect 7-0 record in 28 appearances for the 2004-05 season.

Dygert picked up second team all-region honors after being named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Second Team and All-MAC First Team. Dygert's .355 season batting average ranked sixth in the MAC, while his 76 hits ranked fourth in the league. In MAC contests, Dygert ranked sixth in batting with a .396 average.

Sullivan was named to the All-Mideast Region Second Team after earning All-MAC First Team accolades and ranking third on the team and eighth in the league with a .353 batting average.

In addition to his top-ten league batting average, he placed second in the conference in hits (82); tied for second in runs scored (57); tied for third in doubles (19); and tied for eighth in stolen bases (15).

Lothery joins strength, conditioning staff

Natasha Lothery, '02MS04, has been hired as assistant strength and conditioning coach at Ball State. She spent two years as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach under director Wade Russell, MA92, while pursuing her master's degree. In that role, she worked primarily with the Cardinal men's and women's golf squads, tennis teams, and the gymnastics program.

As a two-year letter-winner on Ball State's track and field team, Lothery captured two individual Mid-American Conference titles in 2002. In addition, she was part of the  2002 league champion indoor distance medley team. The three-time All-MAC honoree also was selected to the 2002 Academic All-Conference Squad. Her career-best time of 2:06.55 in the 800 ranks number two on BSU's all-time top performance chart.

Since leaving Ball State Lothery has worked at the Indiana State Department of Health and the National Institute for Fitness and Sport.

Three golfers named All-America Scholars

The Golf Coaches Association of America has named three members of Ball State's men's golf team as Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars.

Senior Bud Graessle, '05 (Seymour/Seymour H.S.), and juniors Brandon Boomsma (Munster/Illiana, IL H.S.) and Patrick Wilkes-Krier (Ann Arbor, MI/Huron H.S.) received 2005 honors.

To be eligible for the Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar status, an individual must be a junior or senior and must have competed in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participated in 70 percent of the team's competitive rounds, achieved a stroke average under 76 in Division I competition, and maintained a minimum cumulative grade-pointaverage of 3.20.

Graessle capped his collegiate career with a 3.47 GPA as a business major, playing 19 competitive rounds during the spring season with a 75.4 average. Wilkes- Krier, who was second on the team with a 73.6 spring scoring average, owns a 3.47 GPA studying journalism, telecommunications, and digital media, while Boomsma posted a 3.43 GPA in business.