A pair of intrastate rivals square off today at Ball Diamond, when Butler travels north to take on Ball State.
The Cardinals (16-13) hold a 64-52 advantage in the all-time series, including 12 wins in the last 14 contests. Last year, Ball State overcame an early 3-0 deficit to down the Bulldogs (13-17) 6-5 at Victory Field, home of the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.
Freshman Ryan DeGeeter (3-0, 1.45 ERA) normally starts midweek games for the Cards. But after the freshman pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief Sunday at Akron, and with Wednesday being BSU's lone midweek game, coach Greg Beals is terming the Butler game a "staff day," with no pitcher going more than two innings.
"I'm not sure who will get the start," Beals said, "(but) everybody will get some work."
Butler hits .266 as a team, led by Joe Dempsey's .354 average. The Bulldogs have a team ERA of 5.03 ERA, but their biggest downfall has been a horrid .937 fielding percentage, a figure that would place them last in the Mid-American Conference.
Ball State, on the other hand, was leading the league in fielding. But 13 errors in five games last week, including six in one game, now has the Cardinals third in the MAC. However, Beals is not losing sleep over the recent swoon.
"We're not kicking the ball around a lot," the second-year coach said. "Some of the errors we've made have been throwing errors, that mechanically, were not a problem. It doesn't bother me too much. On Wednesday, two of our errors were pick-off plays."
The Butler contest is a chance for Ball State to gather some momentum before its weekend series at West Division leader Central Michigan. The Cards stand in second at 6-3 in the Mid-American Conference, while the Chippewas are at 5-1.
While he obviously would like to be 9-0, Beals is happy with where his team is at.
"It puts us in position for where we need to go," he said. "The next three weeks will be very big for how we do the rest of the season.
"You look at winning series. If you win two of three every weekend, you'll be in pretty good shape."
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