MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) Greg Beals was hired as Ball State's baseball coach Wednesday.

Beals, who spent nine years as an assistant coach at Kent State, replaces Rich Maloney who left to become the coach at Michigan. Beals is the eighth coach in the program's 83-year history.

Beals, a three-year letterman at Kent State, was a 22nd-round draft pick of the Mets in 1991 and spent three years in New York's minor league system.

Beals is the first hire for Lawrence "Bubba" Cunningham, named Tuesday as the school's new athletic director.

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