Rain has long been said to have cleansing powers. The Ball State University baseball team will put them to the test Wednesday against Indiana University.
The Cardinals were supposed to get back on the field for the first time Tuesday after being swept by Bowling Green State University during the weekend. But rain washed away its game against Huntington University, forcing the team inside to practice.
"The weekend is already behind us," coach Greg Beals said. "The coaching staff put together one heck of a practice."
Ball State (15-15) will try to get back on the field against a familiar opponent. The Hoosiers (16-17) and the Cardinals met in the second week of the season in the Austin Peay Tournament in Clarksville, Tenn. Ball State extended its winning streak against Indiana to five games with a 5-4 win on junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker's walk-off home run.
Indiana coach Tracy Smith is 0-3 against the Cardinals in his four years at Bloomington. He said he doesn't view the game as a rivalry, despite the schools' tradition.
"Every game is important if you're competitive," Smith said. "I never have put a lot of stock in rivalries."
Thirty of the 47 meetings between the two teams have been decided by three runs or fewer in a series dating back to 1930.
The Hoosiers will make the trip to Muncie for the first time since 2005. Indiana has won four straight games and nine of its last 11 games.
Smith said the Hoosiers are a much different team than the one Ball State beat Feb. 27.
"We're just playing better," Smith said. "We struggled defensively early in the season. The bullpen didn't do a real good job. We knew we had a good team, we were just underperforming."
The Cardinals scored four runs in the final three innings off the Hoosiers' relief pitchers for the comeback win. They will get another crack at Indiana's relievers as both teams will throw pitchers who primarily work out of the bullpen.
"We want to develop our pitchers who come out of the bullpen," Smith said. "We'll get an idea of where they all are going into the weekend."
Sophomore Joey O'Gara will start Wednesday. It will be the right-hander's third start and 10th appearance of the season. He started and pitched three innings in Indiana's defeat of Valparaiso University last week.
The Hoosiers enter the game leading the Big Ten with a .330 team batting average and have scored 240 runs.
Leading Indiana's attack are designated hitter Alex Dickerson and All-American catcher Josh Phegley. The pair lead the team in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs, RBIs and on-base percentage.
Senior pitcher Adam Quinn will be the first Ball State pitcher to face the Hoosiers' offense. Quinn makes his fifth start of the season, but has not won a start since pitching five innings in a doubleheader March 14.
That win came at home and Beals said he hopes Quinn can duplicate his success to start a homestand for the Cardinals. Nine of their next 10 games will be played at Ball Diamond.
"We're at a point where we need to turn a corner and make a run," Beals said. "This is a great opportunity for us."
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