After a slow start to a still-young season, the Ball State University baseball team looks to rectify its hitting woes and erase mental mistakes on defense during its Spring Break travels to Tennessee, Minnesota and Southern Indiana.
The Cardinals (1-4) will start the road trip with a visit to Nashville, where they'll play Vanderbilt in a three-game series, followed by a game against Belmont. While returning north, Ball State will stop by Evansville to play the Purple Aces. Finally, the Cardinals will play in the Metrodome Tournament in Minneapolis, playing Illinois State, tournament host Minnesota and Vermont in a round robin format.
Last year, Ball State struggled through a 2-7 record during Spring Break. Nevertheless, the 10 days on the road helped develop team camaraderie and coach Greg Beals said he believed it helped the team find its identity.
Ball State won 14 of its next 15 games following that road trip, including a 12-game winning streak. The Cardinals won 32 of their final 42 games.
"You wouldn't think that was the type of Spring Break that would identify a championship season," Beals said. "But last year's Spring Break we kind of hit rock bottom and sprung off of it as opposed to burying ourselves there at the bottom.""
The offense has shown potential at times in the first two weeks of the season but has lacked consistency in getting hits.
"We've just started a little bit slower than we all expected," Beals said. "It takes some time for our hitters and everybody to get their game up. The thing I'm emphasizing is we don't press too hard too fast to try to get sharp."
Vanderbilt swept Ball State last year. The Commodores enter the weekend with a 4-4 record after beating Murray State, 7-1, on Tuesday. Earlier this season, Kent State beat Vanderbilt, 2-1.
"The [Mid-American Conference] can play with them," sophomore pitcher Ben Snyder said. "It's just a matter of us going out there and playing our game and playing to win the game and not putting so much pressure on us."
After playing Belmont in Nashville and Evansville, a game that came about because Beals said he wanted to find an opponent on the way to Minneapolis, the Cardinals will play in the Metrodome Tournament. Minnesota coach John Anderson called Beals to ask if Ball State would be interested in participating.
"The opportunity to get our guys in a major league venue was something that we couldn't turn down," Beals said.
So far this season, Illinois State is winless in four games and Minnesota has won one of four. Vermont's first game of the season is at Delaware this weekend. The tournament gives Ball State's players a chance to play in a dome.
"It might take a little adjusting as far as fly balls and stuff like that, but once you get down to it, you're just playing the game you were always playing," catcher Matt Singleton said. "You put a roof over our head, it's still the same game."
The starting pitching rotation will remain the same during the weekend games, but Beals said he'd go deep into the bullpen during the weekday games similar to last weekend's game against Le Moyne.
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