The name of the game is baseball, but the Ball State University baseball team has been doing anything but get on base in recent games.
The Cardinals (19-16) have started the past four games slowly and were only able to win two.
Last week, Ball State beat Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, 17-15, after falling behind 7-0 in the first three innings. The Cardinals fell behind early in two of three against Kent State University and only produced two runs in the third game.
"We didn't get any fire in our own eyes until we got our back against the wall," coach Greg Beals said. "That's something we've talked about quite a bit. We need to come out and attack the game and make sure we're taking advantage of every opportunity we get from the first inning on."
The Cardinals look to end the trend in Cincinnati against Xavier (11-26). The Musketeers have lost four of their last five games, including an 8-0 loss to Mid-American Conference team Miami University.
"We have to stick to our approaches and get people on base," center fielder Mike Sullivan said. "We are able to do that, we just haven't."
Xavier is batting .252 as a team, led by Adam Lipski's .290 and the team's ERA is 5.80.
Although Ball State was able to beat IPFW with a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth, then culminated another comeback against Kent State Saturday with an RBI single by Mike Sullivan in the eighth, the Cardinals couldn't replicate the effort on Friday or Sunday against the Golden Flashes. Kent State slipped by with a 7-6 win Friday and cruised to a 7-2 win Sunday.
"I haven't been able to put my finger on it exactly," Beals said of the slow starts. "I think it's guys motivating themselves and getting ready to play and getting off on the right foot. We haven't been able to get ourselves fired up until the other team does something to get us fired up."
Ball State gradually came back to beat IPFW after giving up seven runs in three innings. The Cardinals scored at least two runs in five of the last six innings, including a seven-run eighth. Against Kent State, the Cardinals fell behind by six on Saturday but managed a 10-9 win.
After coming from six behind Friday, the Cardinals had a chance to tie or take the lead with two runners on base, but a fly out by catcher Matt Singleton ended the threat.
Matt Gard leads the Cardinals with a .352 batting average while Sullivan is batting .320 and is on a 13-game hitting streak. Two other hitters (Justin Rogers and Brad Miller) are batting above .300.
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