When coach Greg Beals created the non-conference baseball schedule for the 2006 season, he wasn't looking for opponents who he knew Ball State could beat.
Instead, he looked for teams he knew would challenge the team and help it prepare for the Mid-American Conference schedule.
The result of the challenging schedule has been a 7-10 record for Ball State. Along the way, the Cardinals have struggled offensively to find consistency from top to bottom in the lineup.
"We've got to keep in mind that the schedule is not an easy one," Beals said. "We put together a preseason schedule that's a challenging one. You want to put together a schedule that shows you your weaknesses."
Ball State has played in two tournaments, The Citadel Tournament and Metro-Dome Tournament, winning two of five games total. However, two of the losses were by two runs or less and of the 10 losses so far this season, six have been by three runs or less.
"This preseason schedule we've played is one to sharpen us up," Beals said. "It's to get us game ready for conference play. It's as good or better than [other] teams in our conference."
While the offensive struggles haven't resulted in much of a difference in runs per game (the Cardinals average 4.2 to their opponent's 4.7), Ball State is batting .231 as a team and has driven in 56 runs to opponent's .256 batting average and 73 RBI.
"I think it's just game experience," center fielder Mike Sullivan said. "We typically warm up with the weather. That seems to be true in the past. Hopefully that holds up."
The main portion of the non-conference schedule comes to a close today when Ball State travels to Cincinnati to play the Bearcats. Cincinnati leads the series against the Cardinals, 13-10-1, including wins in the past two games.
Ten more non-conference games remain on the schedule, seven of which are against Indiana schools, but those games are spread out through the rest of the season during conference play.
Conference play begins this weekend when Ball State travels to Akron to play the Zips.
"For the most part, I think we're ready to roll for the MAC weekend coming up, and that's the most important thing," Sullivan said. "That's what we're geared up for. I know we'll be ready to play, especially with the loss. Once we get into the conference, we're playing for the trophies and that's what it's all about."
Cincinnati enters the game with a 13-6 record after winning all three games against Oakland last weekend. In two of those wins, Cincinnati scored 20 or more runs, outscoring the Grizzlies 49-24 in the three games. The Bearcats are batting .315 as a team, led by infielder Josh Harrison's .408 batting average. Four other Bearcats are batting better than .300.
Tuesday's game against Xavier was canceled because of the weather, but that shouldn't be a problem for Ball State because Cincinnati's weather forecast is mostly sunny with temperatures in the mid-40s.
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