Cardinals Look to Heat Up The Bats at EMU

Game #28 – Ball State at Eastern Michigan
Friday, April 6, 2:30 p.m.
Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Game #29 – Ball State at Eastern Michigan
Saturday, April 7, 2 p.m.
Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Game #30 – Ball State at Eastern Michigan
Sunday, April 8, 1 p.m.
Live Audio | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateBB)

Projected Starting Pitchers (2018 stats)
Friday – John Baker, RHP (3-2, 3.57 ERA, 61 Ks)
Saturday – Kyle Nicolas, RHP (2-4, 5.40 ERA, 32 Ks)
Sunday – Drey Jameson, RHP (1-0, 5.92, 37 Ks)

Around the Horn
Opening Pitch: This will be Ball State's first trip to Ypsilanti since 2015. The Cardinals hosted Eastern Michigan in 2016 and did not play the Eagles in 2017.

Ball State will be looking to warm up its bats. Through six MAC games, the Cardinals rank 10th in the league in batting average (.204). Meanwhile, Eastern Michigan's pitching has held league opponents to a 2.95 ERA, good enough for third best in the MAC.

Series History: Eastern Michigan holds a slight 77-73-1 lead in the all-time series against Ball State. In Ypsilanti, the Eagles hold a 41-31 edge.

The Cardinals had an eight-game winning streak versus EMU that was snapped in 2015. Ball State took two of three games in the most recent series in May 2016. The series dates back to 1950.

This and That: Some random stats heading into the weekend …

• Ball State's 7-4 loss to Central Michigan on April 1 was its first when leading after six innings. The Cardinals were 11-0 at that mark before the loss.

• Ball State's pitchers have struck out at least 10 batters in three of the last four games.

• SS Noah Powell and OF Colin Brockhouse have each reached base safely in nine straight games.

• Friday's game will be Rich Maloney's 1,300th as a collegiate head coach. Maloney is 776-522-1 (.598) in 23 years as a head coach at Ball State and Michigan.

• The Cardinals were 20-1 when recording at least 10 hits in 2017. Ball State is 8-0 when reaching 10 hits this season. However, the Cardinals have only reached 10 hits once in their last seven games.

• RHP John Baker ranks 18th nationally in strikeouts (61). He has tallied at least six strikeouts in all seven of his starts.

Players Mentioned

John Baker

Colin Brockhouse

Drey Jameson

Kyle Nicolas

Noah Powell

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