Greg Beals said he had a sense Ball State was feeling good about Tuesday's 3-1 upset of No. 16 Notre Dame.
But the head baseball coach made sure in practice that his team wouldn't rest on its laurels.
"I squelched the (feeling) quickly," the first-year boss said. "It was a big win for our program, but it has little or nothing to do with our goals, which are based on winning the conference tournament."
Continuing their quest to gain the No. 1 seed and subsequently host that Mid-American Conference Tournament, the Cardinals (27-11, 8-4 MAC) travel to Akron, Ohio, for a four-game series beginning Friday.
With a 12-8 win Tuesday over Duquesne, the Zips improved to 16-20 overall (7-5 MAC).
"Akron stands more in our way than Notre Dame (did)," Beals said. "They're hungry; they're playing to get into the tournament. We were very determined at Notre Dame. We need to continue to play with that determination."
The Zips are batting .280 with just six home runs as a team, but 4.87 team ERA (fourth in the MAC) has carried them. Frank Mendoza (5-2, 2.44 ERA) and Aaron Gangi (3-3, 4.07) lead the starters and have a combined 1.47 ERA in league play. Reliever Dan Swallie sports a 1.64 with four saves.
"Their coach (Tim Berenyi) was a pitcher, and you can tell he puts emphasis on that," Beals said. "They've got good pitching and some guys with a lot of experience. Their designated hitter, first baseman and third baseman are all three-year starters."
Sophomore shortstop Doug Kruthaupt leads the way in average (.357), while Swallie, who doubles as the DH, has 26 RBIs.
Ball State counters with a lineup that was hitting .333 entering the week, tops in the MAC and good for 11th in the country. Junior rightfielder Brad Snyder paces the Cards in average (.400), homers (eight) and RBIs (45). Jason Paul has a 2.85 ERA and a league-best 6-1 mark.
Although this weekend is the first road series in MAC play for the Cardinals, Beals is not concerned. A 6-2 record over Spring Break would support his claim that a road trip can be good because every activity is team-oriented.
Beals also commented on how every game is somewhat magnified in importance. Due to rotating schedules, Ball State doesn't play East leader Kent State and co-West leader Northern Illinois.
"But we can't worry about them," he said. "We have to take care of business.
"It's a big weekend. Kent goes to Ohio and Northern goes to Miami. Things will start to shake out."
Paul will likely start on Friday, with Brian Lynch, Mike Johnston and Andy Anderson also taking the hill.
After this weekend's series at Akron, the Cardinals travel to Toledo the following week. Ball State also has MAC series with Bowling Green and at Western Michigan remaining.
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