Pasta, white uniforms, MLB Players and autographs helped kick off the 2023 Ball State Baseball season. Youth baseball players, Ball State Alumni and Muncie locals showed up with Ball State Baseball in attendance as head coach Rich Maloney and current Washington National Alex Call spoke about the upcoming season.

At the start of the event Ball State players, all sat in lines and signed autographs as many people came by to get autographs, pictures and to introduce themselves to the players. As coaches walked around and talked to Alumni, donors and even University President Geoffrey Mearns, who was in attendance had a giant smile on his face the entire event.

When the players returned for dinner, they all introduced themselves and their majors.

“If they can remember what any of that is,” said Maloney jokingly after telling the players to introduce themselves.

After dinner concluded, Maloney honored current and former Ball State players with awards. One of the awards given was an Academic Excellence Award given to the Cardinals’ Academic Advisor Allysa Klooster. The Cardinals maintained a 3.0 GPA throughout the entirety of the 2022 season. Some of the other awards handed out were Mid-American Conference (MAC) first, and second team players, the Gold Glove award, team Most Valuable Player and Pitcher of the Year.

Following the award ceremony, Coach Maloney passed the mic off to former Ball State Cardinal and current Washington National Alex Call to talk about his time at Ball State.

“I had the time of my life playing here at Ball State,” he said.

Call didn’t only talk about his time at Ball State but also talked about how to be a better you and maximize your potential in what you’re doing. 

“How do you get to where you want to go?” he said. “It’s not just a flick of a switch. It’s not just something that happens. It’s the hours you put in when no one is watching, the day after day after day grind.” 

Call wasn’t just speaking to the youth in the crowd about baseball, but everyone in the audience when he started talking about being successful in their respective careers.

 “Everybody wants to be in the Major Leagues, everybody wants to be successful in their careers,” he said. “So, if everybody is trying to do what you are trying to do, you have to do something to put yourself ahead, whether that’s waking up at 5 a.m. like Maloney likes us to do, or staying in the office for two more hours a day. What is going to be your difference maker?”

Maloney referenced Call’s 5 a.m. practice comment after he was done speaking.

 “As long as I’m going to be here we will be doing 5 a.m. [practices],” he joked.

Maloney went on to talk about the upcoming season, emphasizing how everybody has to do their job including himself. He also previewed a few of the Cardinals’ first few games and their biggest opponents of the season, mentioning the likes of Indiana, Purdue, Indiana State, No. 6 Wake Forest and their first opponent Charlotte.

“I hope to see you all in the crowd because this team is special,” Maloney concluded.

Ball State heads to Charlotte for its first weekend series of the season, kicking off on Feb. 17 at 3 p.m.

Contact Brayden Goins at brayden.goins@bsu.edu or on Twitter @b_goins14.

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