After a soggy evening ended Ball State’s hopes of getting a win at Purdue on Wednesday, the bus turned around and headed back to Muncie for Ball State’s weekend battle against Central Michigan.
The Cardinals hope to win its second Mid-American Conference series in a row, but will have to start off the series Friday by going up against righty Jordan Foley.
Foley holds a 0.82 ERA in 54 2/3 innings, and has struck out 63 while allowing just 36 hits and 5 earned runs.
Ball State will need its bats to show up in order to get a win Friday, and its best bet would be Sean Godfrey and Billy Wellman
Godfrey leads the Cardinals in batting average at .325, and Wellman is right behind him at .320.
Ball State will counter Foley by sending Friday starter Chris Marangon to the mound, who is expected to pitch despite battling illness.
Marangon will be going against a Central Michigan lineup that’s struggled to hit all season. They have just two players batting over .260, and as a team are batting just .234.
The Chippewa’s on base percentage stands at .330, mostly because of the 123 walks its drawn this season. Despite the walks, the team is still second to last in MAC on base percentage, with only Akron trailing them with .296.
Out of all starters in the MAC who have at least seven starts, four of the five lowest ERA’s will be pitching Friday and Saturday.
While Foley, with the lowest ERA of those five pitchers, goes on Friday against Marangon, fifth lowest, Ball State’s Scott Baker, second lowest, will face off against Central Michigan’s Rick Dodridge, third lowest.
It’s a combination that could result in some low scoring games this weekend.
First pitch is at 3:00 p.m. at Ball Diamond on Friday, then 3:00 on both Saturday and Sunday.
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