After dropping two of three games to Mid-American Conference foe Kent State University, Ball State University baseball coach Greg Beals said the Cardinals have not met the team's expectations.
Ball State (14-20, 4-8 MAC) defeated Kent State (14-20, 6-6 MAC) in the second game of the series 7-6 on Sunday. They dropped the other two games, 17-6 on Friday and 13-5 on Sunday.
"The fact of the matter is we played our normal game of baseball this weekend," Beals said. "That means we're good enough to win one out of three games against a good conference opponent."
In the three games, the Cardinals committed 12 errors, six in the first game and three in the other two. The errors bring the season total to 76 for the Cardinals.
In comparison, Ball State's opponents have committed 47 errors. Their fielding percentage is .964 compared to the Ball State's .942.
"For a coach who prides himself on having defensive-oriented teams, our defense is getting to the embarrassing point where it is just not acceptable to play defense as poorly as we're playing," Beals said.
In the win, sophomore Brenden Stines pitched eight innings and gave up one earned run. He did not get the win, however, as Kent State scored four unearned runs against him.
"At this level, we all understand [errors are] part of the game," Stines said. "Stuff happens. You just play through it, you just keep going and you don't look back."
Stines left in a 5-5 tie but junior Josh Vollmer gave up a run in the ninth.
Ball State tied it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as sophomore Nate Fields, who took over at designated hitter after pinch running, singled in freshman third baseman Tyler Rogers. Ball State won in the tenth with a single by Rogers and junior Kyle Heyne picked up the win.
"It's a credit to [Stines] that he was able to battle through and make it eight innings and give our team a chance to win that baseball game," Beals said.
In the other two games, Ball State's starting pitchers lasted less than five innings. Senior Ryan Degeeter went 4 1/3 innings and gave up nine runs- eight earned - in the first game of the series. Freshman Brad Piatt gave up four runs in four innings of work in the rubber game.
In all three games, the Cardinals bullpen surrendered at least one earned run. The bullpen gave up eight runs (four earned) in the first game, one in the second and nine (three earned) in the final game.
"We're nowhere close to playing Ball State baseball," Beals said. "Offensively, defensively, pitching, no aspect of our game is close to the expectation of this program."
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