Ball State will travel to Boca Raton, Fla. on Friday to compete in the first half of the Florida Atlantic Tournament.
Weekend competition will begin Friday at 11 a.m. and the Cardinals will finish up with their 9 a.m. game on Sunday.
Harvard, Florida Atlantic, Eastern Michigan, Michigan State and Jacksonville will be among the competition throughout the five-game, three-day weekend.
The Florida Atlantic Tournament will be the first weekend of competition for Harvard as they take on Jacksonville Friday morning.
Florida Atlantic is 5-9 on the season overall as they head into the weekend. After 14 games, the Owls are fielding .955 as a team.
Eastern Michigan is 2-3 with all three loses taking place on the road. The Eagles season high for strikeouts in a game is six by compared to Ball State freshman Nicole Steinbach’s 10 strikeouts in a game against Grambling State.
Michigan State is 8-6 overall with a team high batting average of .432.
Jacksonville is 10-4 on the season with a .741 winning percentage.
Ball State is 6-3 on their season with a .957 combined fielding percentage and a .654 batting average by junior outfielder Jennifer Gilbert.
Gilbert shows potential in breaking the school record for career home runs as she is tied with the current record of 38.
“I’d like to see us play a little bit more consistent on both sides of the ball,” coach Craig Nicholson said. “I’d like to see us pitch a little more consistent and play a little bit better defense.”
Freshmen pitchers Nicole Steinbach and Kelsey Schifferdecker have lead the team in the circle so far this season and are working on ways to become more relaxed at the college level.
“I am always a tense pitcher,” Steinbach said. “The more I trust myself the better it will be.”
“The biggest thing is finding a way to win games and being able to get outside for ten or eleven consecutive days I think will help us in some of those other areas,” Nicholson said. “Through that process we have to make sure we are winning ball games.”
The second half of the Florida Atlantic Tournament will begin Mar. 7. in Boca Raton.
