After facing the No. 6 ranked Miami Hurricanes, the Ball State baseball team will begin the Mid-American Conference Tournament this week.
The Cardinals earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament and will face No. 4 seed Eastern Michigan on Wednesday.
Ball State, who enters the tournament for the eighth straight time, has not faced a league opponent in over a week and enters with a 27-26 overall record and 14-10 MAC record.
Eastern, the defending tournament champions, enters with a 29-25 overall record and 14-10 MAC record. In their last outing, they lost a series against No. 1 seed Central Michigan 2-1.
Eastern won the series against the Cards earlier this season, 2-1. The Eagles won game one 4-3 behind Ryan Ford's complete game in which he allowed seven hits.
The teams split a double header to close the series. Eastern won the first 5-3, and Ball State took the second 6-5 after Lucas Fry homered in the ninth.
In 2003, the Cards' were eliminated from the MAC Tournament after a 14-4 loss to Ohio and 3-2 loss to Kent State. Ball State has never won a MAC Championship, which would give them an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Head coach Greg Beals said the team's recent series against the Miami Hurricanes will serve as preparation for the tournament.
"The whole game this weekend polished us up," Beals said. "I feel very confident about where we are going into the tournament."
Beals said he feels the pitching depth and team defense are the top qualities going into the tournament but is still looking for the team to be solid on offense.
The Cards' will look to Brad Miller and Marc Franz offensively who together have 118 RBI. Miller holds a team high .361 batting average.
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