Playing eight games in a 10-day span, the Ball State University baseball team broke even. The Cardinals defeated four of their opponents and lost to four.
Ball State started Spring Break in Conway, S.C. in the Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament. The Cardinals won the first game against Long Island University 8-7 before dropping back-to-back games to Coastal Carolina University, 6-1 and 10-8 respectively.
The Cardinals then headed to Charleston, S.C. for two midweek games against Charleston Southern University. After sweeping Charleston Southern 7-2 and 9-8, Ball State headed back to Conway for the Centex Homes Invitational.
The Cardinals were slated to play four games during the weekend but because of rain Saturday played three. They dropped games to the University of Michigan and, for the third time in 10 days, lost to Coastal Carolina. However, the team rallied to win the final game Sunday against Presbyterian College 13-2.
Ball State coach Greg Beals said his team performed as expected going into Spring Break.
"We played about the way I anticipated us playing," he said. "We won the games I thought we should win. Unfortunately we weren't able to win any of the big games."
Throughout the break the Cardinals continued using their hot bats. They averaged almost seven runs per game and got on base at close to a .400 rate.
"You don't ever want to say you count on it every time because there will be games where your hitting gets shut down," Beals said. "A good pitcher can shut you down offensively at times, but I do feel like our offensive is playing consistently."
Something that hasn't been consistent for the Cardinals is their starting pitching. In the eight games during Spring Break the Cardinals starters had a 7.02 ERA in 41 innings. Beals said the starting pitching is a concern but the team still has time to fix it.
"Our starters have struggled a little bit, and we do need to solidify our starting pitching," he said. "That's something very important to our team. We don't have all the answers yet but we're still early in the season."
One of the bright spots on the mound so far has been freshman Kolbrin Vitek. During the break he started twice, pitching 11 innings while allowing one run. He also struck out 16 while walking two in those games.
Vitek, when not pitching, serves as the designated hitter for the Cardinals. While he batted at a .217 clip during the break, he leads the team in batting average for the season at .367. He said his experience playing in summer leagues has allowed him to play well in his first month of college baseball.
"It's from the past summers playing on a high level travel team," Vitek said. "I played against a lot of these guys in the summer leagues."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
