Thanks to a seven-run third inning, Ball State closed out itsSpring Break week of play on a strong note, downing Liberty 11-5 inLynchburg, Va. The Cardinals won five of their nine games on thetrip and are now 8-8 on the season.
Ball State was in Louisville, Ky. on March 12 through 14,splitting a pair of games each with Louisville and Cincinnati. TheCards then split another pair at East Tennessee State before takingtwo of three games at Liberty over the weekend.
"I would say overall (the trip) was a success," second-yearcoach Greg Beals said. "We lost a couple games we shouldn't havelost, but we found out a lot about ourselves.
"We got a lot of batting practice, and we're far ahead of wherewe were when we left Muncie."
Freshman Ryan DeGeeter started two games on the mound for BSU,earning the win in a 6-2 victory over East Tennessee State. In histwo starts, DeGeeter (1-0, 2.76 ERA) gave up four earned runs in 10innings. Junior Joe Ness (3-0, 4.50) won a pair of games. SeniorAndrew Anderson (2-1, 2.88) won Sunday's game and freshman relieverRichie Fralik also recorded a win.
"We really haven't cemented a (batting) lineup yet," Beals said."That's because we've got some younger guys platooning in somespots.
"The thing I feel real good about is pitching. We have solidrotation, and our bullpen really pitched well. Guys like MichaelHale and Jeff Michael have been really solid in bullpen."
Beals believes that DeGeeter has established himself as the No.4 starter behind Ness, senior Mike Johnston (1-2, 4.03) andAnderson. The emergence of the lefthanded Hale (1.74 ERA) andrighthander Michael in bullpen has eased the recent loss of juniorKory Bucklew.
Bucklew, who pitched in a team-high 25 games the past twoseasons with an ERA of 3.87 but had not pitched yet in 2004, hadsurgery on his left (throwing) elbow to remove bone chips and willnot play this season.
Although the door is still revolving at some positions,sophomore centerfielder Mike Sullivan (team-best .352 average andfour stolen bases) has established himself as the leadoff hitterBeals expected him to be. In addition, junior Marc Franz (.328, 17RBI) and sophomore Kyle Dygert (.304, three home runs, 14 RBI) areagain firmly entrenched at third and second base, respectively.
Rightfielder Kiel Holman, shortstop Jason Bucholtz,catcher/designated hitter Lucas Fry and first baseman Brad Millerhave also been regulars, but Fry (.236) and Miller (.229, 4 HR, 15RBI) are struggling after hitting above .300 a year ago.
As a team, Ball State is hitting .274. Last season, the Cardsranked first in the Mid-American Conference and 15th in the nationwith a .327 team average.
"We still need to work on offense; we just continue to getbetter with each at-bat," Beals said. "I don't think we'vecompletely found ourselves yet. The team has had to fighttooth-and-nail for every run they get."
While he obviously wants to win, Beals said his team's recordisn't the most important thing this early in the season.
"My main goal is to have team prepared as well as I can for theMAC," he said.
The Cards have their home opener Wednesday when they playValparaiso at Ball Diamond. Friday marks the first series of MACplay when the team travels to Bowling Green.
"I feel prepared for conference play," Beals said.
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