CMU baseball continues Mid-American Conference play at Ball State
The baseball team is doing its best to get on schedule in preparation for this weekend’s series at Ball State.
Low temperatures and wet weather conditions led to the cancellation of midweek games on March 12 against Madonna and March 19 against Northwood.
On Wednesday, the Chippewas were finally able to play a midweek game when they defeated Oakland, 7-4, at Theunissen Stadium.
“I think you get into a situation where you’re not playing a lot when that happens,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “Then we had to go inside a lot. I’ve been here a while now, and this has been the worst year in terms of actually getting on a field and practicing.”
So far, that might be having an effect on the field. The Chippewas are 4-8 since they returned from the warm climates of the non-conference season.
CMU will look to reverse that trend this weekend in Muncie, Ind., where it will face a Ball State team that is 14-15 overall and 4-5 in the Mid-American Conference.
The Cardinals are coming off a 7-5 loss to Bowling Green on April 9. The Chippewas will look to continue the success they had against BSU last season when they swept them in a season-closing series.
The Cardinals come into the game second in the MAC in team ERA at 3.86. Sophomore Scott Baker leads their pitching staff with a 7-0 record and 2.06 ERA.
The Chippewas will counter the Ball State pitching with sophomore Jordan Foley, who will start on Friday. Freshman Taylor Lehnert will start Saturday, and senior Rick Dodridge will start in the series-finale on Sunday.
Freshman outfielder Logan Regnier, who had a go-ahead two-RBI double in the win over Oakland, leads the CMU offense with a .330 average and 18 RBIs.
First pitch on Friday from Ball Diamond is scheduled for 3 p.m. First pitch on Saturday and Sunday is at 1 p.m.
