No matter what type of day it is, it seems the Ball State lineup can always score runs.
With the wind blowing in nearly every direction this weekend and the temperature quickly going from hot to cold, Ball State still managed to sweep both Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan.
As Ball State battled through the environments on Sunday, it was still able to score runs and hit the ball out of the park in the 9-6 win over Central Michigan.
Coach Craig Nicholson said his team is able to stay versatile no matter what the conditions are, especially at different points in the lineup.
"Our two slappers in the bottom of the order had two great at-bats to get balls in play and to gives us some cushion that was very important," Nicholson said.
Junior center fielder Amanda Carpenter said the versatility makes it difficult for defenses to play the Ball State hitters.
"There are several girls who can lay down some bunts and obviously we have all our home run hitters," Carpenter said. "I think it definitely messes with the defense."
Central Michigan jumped out to an early lead with a two-run home run in the top of the first but Ball State quickly retaliated with a three-run first inning to take the lead.
Central Michigan then followed with a four-run second inning.
Ball State has faced some early deficits lately and has consistently fought back from them. They did so again on Sunday.
"I don't think we played great today but the one thing I think we did is we fought great today, we battled all day long," Nicholson said. "Every time they scored, we had an answer for it."
Despite a rough first two innings for senior pitcher Audrey Workman, Nicholson said he thought she pitched well throughout the game. Workman allowed eight hits and six earned runs. She was able to get big strikeouts with runners on base late because of the success of her off-speed pitches.
"She's got that perfect difference in terms of velocity between her hard stuff and her change[-up]," Nicholson said. "She's about 14 to 15 miles per hour slower so it's tough as a hitter to get that same look and have the ball coming that slow at you."
Ball State has now won its last seven games and lost only two of its last 15.
Senior catcher Amanda Montalto and sophomore left fielder Jennifer Gilbert each added a home run in the game to pull Ball State closer to the Mid-American Conference team record for home runs in a season.
Despite being down early in some of the games recently, the offense keeps picking the team up when it needs to. Nicholson said the offense is scary to opposing pitchers.
"There's no lead safe against us," he said.
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