Central Michigan was the pre-season pick to win the Mid-American Conference West Division, but it's Ball State who tops the division as the squads face off this weekend at Ball Diamond, starting at 3 p.m. today.
Coach Greg Beals is treating this series no differently than any other.
"Regardless of who you're playing in the conference, it's still going to go into the standings no matter who your wins and losses are against," Beals said. "Our goal is to win our conference, so every conference opponent is somebody that's in our way of achieving our goal."
Marc Franz's 4-for-4 performance against Dayton on Wednesday raised his batting average to .350, fourth-best in the MAC. His 43 hits are second-most in the conference. Kyle Dygert's two hits against the Flyers raised his hitting streak to 13. The Cardinals have won 15 of their last 17 games.
"Big series for many reasons, primarily to keep the positive flow going," Beals said. "This weekend we need to make an extension of this run we're on."
Ball State (21-10 overall, 8-1 MAC) used six pitchers Wednesday to give several Cardinals an opportunity to get work in during the week. Beals said he was pleased with the pitching performance, especially Ryan DeGeeter's two innings in relief. DeGeeter allowed one hit, struck out one and continued to recover from his struggles from earlier in the season.
Joe Ness, Ben Snyder, and Michael Hale will again take the mound as starters this weekend. Ness enters the weekend with a 4.50 ERA as Ball State's ace, and owns a 4-1 record in eight starts. Closer Erik Morrison's 1.08 ERA and nine saves in 17 appearances top the MAC.
The Chippewas and Cardinals have faced several common out-of-conference opponents this season in Alabama-Birmingham, Oakland and Notre Dame. CMU finished 2-3 against those opponents, while Ball State finished 7-1. Central Michigan started the season slowly, losing its first four games, but has recovered and enter the weekend with a 19-12 record overall and 2-4 in the MAC. They defeated Notre Dame, 10-4, on Wednesday.
"We don't need to do anything special," Beals said. "We just have to go out and play good baseball."
Central Michigan's Ty Dunham (3.04) Josh Collmenter (3.13), Jayson Ruhlman (3.21) rank seventh through ninth in the MAC in ERA.
Troy Moratti leads the Chippewas with a .323 batting average and 41 hits, while J.T. Jones is right behind with a .323 average.
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