The Ball State baseball team, winners of eight of its last 10 games, will try to continue its winning ways as Mid-American Conference East-leading Kent State travels to Muncie this weekend for a four-game series.
Ball State (18-13 overall, 9-3 MAC) will look to avenge a loss in the teams' last meeting. Kent State knocked the Cardinals out of the 2001 MAC tournament by a score of 13-3 May 20.
Cardinals head coach Rich Maloney said he hopes the team will improve on its fielding and overall consistency this weekend against the Flashes.
The team ranks eighth in the MAC in fielding percentage (.953) and has committed 56 errors this season.
"The fact is we're playing a lot of new players," Maloney said. "Lorenzo Scott, Kiel Holman and Jason Buholtz haven't had this type of playing time before, and Ben Schroeder is new to the program.
"We're dealing with some people at positions with limited experience and with that comes some growing pains."
Maloney said he is encouraged because, although his players have struggled at times, his team holds the top spot in its division.
"We're in first place in the West (Division) despite the fact that we're not hitting on all cylinders," Maloney said.
Kent State (16-11, 5-1) comes into this weekend's series seemingly hitting on all cylinders. The team has won seven of its last eight games and ranks second in the MAC in batting average (.320) and fourth in ERA (5.52).
The Golden Flashes are led by a pair of unrelated O'Brien's. Catcher Pat O'Brien (.439, 12 runs, 34 RBI) and outfielder Eric O'Brien (.333, 14 doubles, 30 runs scored) have paced the Kent State offense throughout the year.
The Cardinals have relied heavily on solid starting pitching throughout the season, with the bulk of the responsibility levied by Bryan Bullington and Luke Hagerty.
The two juniors have combined for 11 wins, 126 strikeouts and six complete games this season. Both earned national honors recently - Bullington was named pitcher of the week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Tuesday and Hagerty appeared on Baseball America's Mid-season Top Juniors list April 11.
"Whenever they pitch, with how good they've been, it's a different game," Maloney said. "They strike out 12 to 15 batters per game which leads to less defensive plays and less opportunities for errors."
Ball State takes the field at 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
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