Now that Ball State is back on top of the Mid-American Conference West Division, the team is looking to continue the momentum created from winning two of three games at Central Michigan.
The Chippewas entered the weekend leading the division and leading the league in hitting, but BSU pitching limited the home team to 10 runs in the series. Now Ball State, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan share the top spot in the West.
"This was a big series for us to win," coach Greg Beals said. "There's two sides to (what could follow): There could be a letdown (this week), or it's something we can build on."
The Cardinals (18-15 overall, 8-4 MAC) play host to IPFW at 3 p.m. today before traveling across the border Wednesday to take on Dayton. The main objective for Beals this week is for his team to develop consistency, especially given that the Cards have lost three straight nonleague games, all to teams with losing records.
"(We want to be consistent) just with our approach, especially our mental approach and our offensive approach," Beals said. "We need to get good at-bats. We need to value our at-bats and plays the same as we do in conference play."
Freshmen Billy Salazar and Richie Fralick will start in the respective games. Salazar started two weeks ago against Findlay and gave up five runs in two innings, although only one was earned. He has a 3.60 ERA in five innings.
Fralick will draw his first career start against the Flyers. He sports a 1-1 record and 5.48 ERA in 23 innings over 13 appearances.
Another freshman, Ryan DeGeeter (4-0, 1.57), normally starts midweek games, but he saw relief action in both of BSU's victories at Central, recording a win and his first save.
As a staff, the Cards have an ERA of 3.89. At the plate, the leading hitters are Marc Franz (.372), Brad Miller (.366) and Mike Sullivan (.360).
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