Sometime last fall, during a season of discontent, a Ball State football fan recognized Perci Garner outside of Schumann Stadium.

Tired of watching redshirt freshman Kelly Page fight his way through growing pains with no wins to show for it, the fan had a simple wish for Garner.

“Hey, you should be playing football!”

Garner didn’t know the fan, but the message was somewhat difficult to hear.

For the first time Garner wasn’t spending the fall sweating through football two-a-days and playing quarterback.

“I didn’t miss the practices,” Garner said. “But the games were harder. It’s hard seeing your teammates out there.”

Garner, who was a two-time All-Ohio quarterback at Dover High School, made the switch to playing baseball full time last January after two disappointing seasons backing up Nate Davis, the 2008 MAC Offensive Player of the Year and the 49ers fifth round draft choice last year. Garner was astounded by the speed of the game in college and never really got a chance at football.

Coach Stan Parrish encouraged Garner to take his shot at baseball, which had been the original plan during his recruitment. Parrish promised a spot would still be open to Garner at football if he wanted to come back. He also got encouragement from Cardinals wide receiver Dan Ifft, who had played at Dover with Garner.

“He encouraged me to play baseball,” Garner said. “Everybody back home told me to.”

The switch has worked out well for Garner, who after taking 1 1/2 years off baseball is projected to be drafted early in June’s MLB Draft. It’s an unexpected development for Garner, but not one that’s slipped his imagination.

“I’ve thought about it a lot,” he said. “I improved faster than I thought I was going to this year. I’m just going to do what’s best for me.”

When Garner made his return to baseball last year, he proved to be a valuable piece of Ball State’s bullpen. Coach Greg Beals got him involved quickly, and Garner made his first appearance in the second game of the year at Furman. He registered a strikeout in his first outing and his success continued throughout the year.

“I wanted him to get his feet wet as soon as possible,” Beals said. “I wanted him to see that we intended to use him.”

Garner posted a 1-0 record with a 4.95 ERA last year. He earned one save and struck out 24 batters in 20 innings.

He has found even more success this year. Since joining the Cardinals’ rotation for the start of MAC play at the end of March, Garner has broken out. The redshirt sophomore is 5-1 with a 3.66 ERA and won his first four career starts before losing at Central Michigan on Friday.

The transition has been easy off the field as well. Garner and his outsized personality fit in quickly at baseball, while they failed him at football. He did not travel on all road trips even when he wasn’t redshirting, because the football coaches were concerned he would be a distraction.

But at baseball, Garner’s attitude meshed seamlessly. Garner can often be seen with fellow pitcher Morgan Coombs between innings and to their teammates’ walkup music.

“It’s easy to make friends with these guys,” Garner said. “Coach recruited good character guys.”

He pitched his way into the national spotlight last summer when he was named the No. 2 prospect in the Great Lakes Collegiate Baseball League by Baseball America. But Garner remains a largely unknown commodity for most scouts, still trying to get a feel for his story.

Jim Callis, executive editor of Baseball America, said the industry doesn’t have the same history with Garner that they do of his teammate and potential first round pick Kolbrin Vitek.

“Vitek’s on everybody’s map,” Callis said. “[Perci has] more fluctuation. Guys are still trying to get a feel for him.”

Garner is certainly on the radar of many MLB teams. Every Friday when he pitches two dozen scouts are in attendance to see his low to mid 90s fastball and devastating slider.

Garner said he feeds off the attention from scouts coming to see him.

“They’re here to see me, so I must be doing something right,” he said. “So it’s kind of a confidence booster.”

With the draft less than two months away, teams are quickly getting to know Garner. Playing alongside Vitek will help Garner as more and more MLB teams send high ranking officials to see the first-round talent at Ball State.

“Let’s say a bunch of guys go to see [Ohio center fielder Gauntlett Eldemire] and Vitek at the MAC tournament,” Callis said. “If [Garner] lights it up with the right guys there, he’ll shoot up the charts.”

For now Garner is trying not to think about the draft. With Ball State attempting to win its first MAC championship since 2006, Garner is focused on taking the ball every Friday night.

The way he sees it, scouts will have two more years to look at him if they don’t like what they see now.

“I don’t view it as pressure,” Garner said. “If they don’t like me this year, I’m going to keep improving.”