Baseball Weekend Preview: LSU vs. Ball State

(your humble Fearless Leader PodKATT subbing in here for Doc Awesome, who is somewhere in the hills of Tennessee this weekend *banjo twang*)

Ball St Cardinals

Record: 7-7

Recent Play: 2-0 vs Cincinnati, 0-2 vs Ole Miss and Coastal Carolina, Chanticleer Classic, Conway, SC

2015 Record: 33-25 Overall, 14-13 in the MAC

The Cardinals of Ball St. are a MAC team, and they have a resume you'd exactly expect from a MAC team. They beat the bad teams and lose to the good teams. Their two wins against Cincinnati in South Carolina last weekend are easily the best thing they've done so far. This weekend marks the final stop on Ball St's typical northern team early season road trip as they get their home opener next weekend.

Cardinal Arms

Player	YR	Throws	IP	ERA	K	BB	BAA	W-L-S
Kevin Marnon	SR	LHP	18.0	4.00	12	6	0.273	1-2-0
Zach Plesac	JR	RHP	13.0	6.23	12	6	0.446	0-1-0
Colin Brockhouse	SO	RHP	14.0	2.57	11	6	0.231	1-1-0
Brendan Burns	SO	RHP	16.1	2.20	18	6	0.242	2-0-0
BJ Butler	JR	RHP	9.1	1.93	7	2	0.241	0-0-3

As of Friday morning, Ball St wasn't sure if they were throwing Plesac or Brockhouse on Saturday. Friday night's Kevin Marnon is a SR who's actually in his first season as a D1 player after transferring to Akron last year from Juco, then having to find a home after Akron closed up shop last year. LSU's Akron transfer John Valek III says they're good friends. BJ Butler looks like a good closer, but he's about all Ball St has that would be threatening out of the bullpen. The Cardinals have a staff ERA of 4.43

Cardinal Bats

Player	Position	BA	SLG	OBP	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB-ATT
Caleb Stayton	1B	.357	.536	.439	9	20	4	0	2	18	8	16	0-0
Alex  Call	RF	.346	.519	.435	12	18	5	2	0	1	7	6	6-7
Ryan Spaulding	2B	.327	.436	.433	11	18	6	0	0	5	11	2	2-3
Team		.260	.362	.363	73	120	26	6	3	61	69	101	15-19

Not a lot of worries here. Ball St has some decent hitters, but not a lot of power. Add in that high strikeout total and lack of stolen base attempts and you've got a recipe for a feast for someone like Alex Lange.

Should you be worried?

Not at all. And with the tough week ahead of UNO (yes, UNO) and the SEC opener against Bama, we need a safe and quiet weekend. The only thing I really want to see is Alex Lange get back in the groove.

Weather

Woo Boy, we are paying for February now. The rain *should be* gone by Saturday night, but it's going to be dicey until then. The Cardinals have a hard travel curfew of 3pm on Sunday, so if there's cause for a doubleheader, get ready for breakfast at The Box

Best Logo I Found on Google Image Search

Ball St's been using this thing since 1990, and before that....? There seems to be some evidence of them using the cardinal head logo currently used by the Arizona Football Cardinals, but nothing I could nail down. It's fine. Unique, certainly, but just kinda... there. *shrug*

SUPPLEMENTAL: OPPONENT PLAYER NAME OF THE YEAR

Not sure anyone's going to beat that this year. Mr Bacon has yet to see the field this year.

Prediction

Tigers sweep, but only get two wins. I just don't see them getting 3 games in this weekend. As always #Pray4TarpCrew