The Bowling Green baseball team defeated Ball State 7-0 in the Mid-American Conference Championship game this past May.
With that win, the Falcons earned their first MAC championship and NCAA Tournament berth since 1999.
This Friday will be the first time these two teams meet since that last matchup in May.
Ball State comes into the three-game series against the Falcons with an overall record of 13-8. The Cardinals are led by outfielders Alex Call and Sean Godfrey. Call leads the team with a .365 batting average. Godfrey is batting .297 and leads the Cardinals with four homeruns and 23 RBIS.
This will be the first MAC action for both the Cardinals and the Falcons this season. BG’s first MAC game of the season would have been against Eastern Michigan this past Tuesday, but the game was canceled due to inclement weather.
After the combined no-hitter against Bucknell last Friday, both Brett Fitzwater and Chris Miller were named MAC Co-East Division Pitchers of the week. It was the first BG no-hitter in nearly 19 years.
Shortstop Brian Bien has been leading the charge offensively for the Falcons through the first 18 games of the 2014 season. Bien leads the Falcons in batting average, runs scored, hits, walks and on base percentage. Bien holds a .397 average and has 14 runs scored.
The Falcons have 14 players batting over .300 so far this season as well. One of the 14 is Jeremy Shay who is batting .328 and leads the Falcons with 13 RBIS and nine extra base hits.
Starters Patrick Lancaster and Andrew Kubuski are also helping the Falcons offensively. Lancaster leads with eight stolen bases and is third on the team with a .338 average.
After nearly hitting for the cycle this past weekend, Brandon Howard is batting .391 in his 11 appearances this season. Howard also has a slugging percentage over .500 and provides a vital role off the bench.
The series against Ball State is set to begin at 1 p.m. for the first pitch this Friday. Followed by a 3 p.m. start on both Saturday and Sunday. The action takes place at Ball Diamond stadium in Muncie, Ind.
