In the course of one weekend series with Central Michigan University, the Ball State University baseball team went from tied for first place in the Mid-American Conference to three games behind the leader.
The Cardinals were tied with Eastern Michigan University at 7-2 in MAC games heading into the weekend but got swept by the Chippewas 7-3, 8-6, 5-4.
While the Cardinals traveled to Mt. Pleasant, Mich., for the weekend series, their bats never showed up. Ball State scored 13 runs in the three games, nine fewer than the previous MAC series low this season.
"I'll give their pitchers some credit," coach Greg Beals said. "They were able to throw more than one pitch for strike."
A part of the problem for the Cardinals offensively was they struck out 27 times in the weekend and in every game tallied more strikeouts than hits. Center fielder Wayne Bond Jr. said the team struggled at the plate because it didn't stay within its abilities at the plate.
"I think guys were pressing a little bit and trying to do too much," he said. "They weren't staying within themselves."
While the hitters struggled, Beals said, he thought his team pitched well. The Chippewas scored 20 runs against Ball State, a number that would have been considerably lower if it weren't for mistakes in fielding, he said.
"It's hard to put up zeros when the guys can't catch balls behind [the pitchers]," Beals said. "We had multiple errors in every game this weekend."
The Cardinals committed four errors in the first game followed by two and three in Saturday and Sunday's games, respectively. However, the errors aren't the sole reason for the three losses, Beals said.
"It wasn't just the errors," he said. "We played bad baseball. We had a bad aura and a bad demeanor this weekend."
Senior Tyler Pritchard, who started game one allowing two runs in six innings, said the team doesn't have time to dwell on being swept.
"Mentally we can't let it affect us," he said. "Hopefully guys realize that this weekend was definitely a negative for us but we have two big midweek games and then Western [Michigan University] to get ready for."
With the Cardinals dropping three and Eastern Michigan's sweep of Western Michigan this weekend, Ball State is now three games behind the Eagles in the MAC West Division.
The two will play each other at Ball Diamond in two weeks, giving the Cardinals a chance to erase the deficit but Pritchard said the team can't worry about the Eagles just yet.
"All we can do is take care of Xavier [University], Purdue [University] and Western Michigan [this week]," he said. "You can't get caught looking at the standings, all you can do is play the next game."
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