Travelling to the Austin Peay Invitational in Clarksville, Tenn., wasn't far enough for the Ball State University baseball team to escape cold, wintry weather. A laundry list of weather problems plagued the tournament that included three northern teams looking to escape to a climate better suited for baseball.
Saturday's games were cancelled because of inclement weather. The official temperature of Sunday's game against Austin Peay State University was 39 degrees, nine degrees more than Muncie's high temperature Sunday. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for Montgomery County, Tenn., where Clarksville is located, from 6 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday and a thunderstorm passed through the area Thursday night, leaving the field in damp condition.
"The outfield was pretty wet," center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker said. "They were working on it when we got there, but it didn't affect any of the outfielders. We just played our game."
Coach Greg Beals said the weather didn't have an effect on his team.
"The weather wasn't great," Beals said. "They did a fabulous job of playing through it. That was a sign of our experience and maturity."
Time to spare: With the cancellation of Saturday's game against Cleveland State University, the Cardinals had plenty of time on their hands in Clarksville. Beals said his team basically had a day off. They ate lunch together and spent time at the local mall.
"We tried to keep ourselves from laying around the hotel," Beals said.
POY showdown: The tournament included three players on the 2009 Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, Indiana University's Josh Phegley and Matt Bashore and Ball State's Kolbrin Vitek. In Friday's matchup between the two schools, Bashore went six innings, allowing one run on seven hits and striking out six as the starting pitcher.
Ball State pitched around Phegley, who walked four times and scored a run. The junior catcher struck out in his only official at bat. He finished the weekend with a 2-for-5, two RBI effort against Cleveland State University.
Vitek came out ahead in the win column as Ball State beat Indiana 5-4. Vitek finished the weekend 2-for-8 with two RBI's. He also pitched five scoreless innings to pick up his first victory of the season Sunday against host Austin Peay.
MAC Roundup: The weekend was dominated by cancellations as wintry weather swept the South. Fifteen games were cancelled throughout the weekend, including Ohio University's entire four-game series against Furman University. Northern Illinois University was lucky enough to schedule this weekend in Arizona and earned what was perhaps the MAC's best win, beating the University of Missouri 5-2 on Saturday. Kent State University remained the conference's only undefeated team with victories against Winthrop University and Wagner College. The University of Akron, Bowling Green State University and Western Michigan University all remained winless, losing a combined eight games.
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