On the road for the first time since Spring Break, the Ball State baseball team travels to DeKalb, Ill. to face Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois this weekend in a three-game series.
The Cardinals (13-9, 3-0 Mid-American Conference) defeated in-state rival Purdue 9-8 on Wednesday for the third time in a row. With a three-game sweep against Bowling Green last weekend, Ball State finds itself in first place in the MAC West heading into this weekend, and on a five-game winning streak.
Northern Illinois's batting order isn't quite as potent as some of the lineups Ball State has faced recently. Eric Sansouci leads the Huskies with a .333 batting average. Mike Santoro and Jeremy Busch have five home runs each, and Santoro leads in RBI with 20. As a team, NIU (6-13) is hitting .292, while its opponents are batting .322.
Brian Smith leads Northern Illinois with a 2.30 ERA in eight appearances and four starts, but he only has a 2-3 record. In fact, none of Northern Illinois pitchers have a winning record through 19 games. As a team, the Huskies have a 6.31 ERA, which could bode well for BSU, whose bats have been hot as of late.
"I expect it to be a good conference series," coach Greg Beals said. "If we can continue to play baseball the way we have, we'll be fine."
The Cardinals have gotten good production from most of the lineup in the last two weeks that has produced scoring opportunities. Mike Sullivan and Jason Bucholtz have hit .444 in the last four games, each with eight hits in 18 at-bats. Kyle Dygert is hitting .466 since the Bowling Green series and has seven hits. For the season, Marc Franz continues to lead the team with a .361 average. The team is batting .293 after 22 games.
Richie Fralick and Ryan DeGeeter continue to battle a tough start to the season. Both pitchers are trying to regain confidence, but Beals said DeGeeter looked better in his two-inning appearance against Purdue. DeGeeter is coming out of the bullpen for the time being, and Beals said he wasn't sure if and when DeGeeter will return to the mound as a starter.
Fralick has made six relief appearances this season and one start. He has a 9.22 ERA and 0-1 record.
"He went out in Alabama our second weekend and pitched fabulous," Beals said. "He's very capable of being a very good pitcher for us. We've just got to get him in that confident mode, trusting himself and get him to pitch to his ability."
Joe Ness (3-1, 6.00 ERA) will start game one for Ball State and junior Nick Hall will take the mound for the Huskies.
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