Game 37-39
Ball State Cardinals (23-13, 7-3 MAC) at Miami RedHawks (29-7, 10-2 MAC)
Friday, April 19 – 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 20 – 4 p.m.
Sunday, April 21 – 1 p.m. 
McKie Field at Hayden Park – Oxford, Ohio

ON TAP
It is a showdown between the top two teams in the Mid-American Conference standings this weekend as the first place Miami University baseball team hosts second place Ball State for a three-game series. Friday's game is the annual Walter "Smokey" Alston game, honoring the 1935 Miami graduate who went into the school's Hall of Fame after lettering in both baseball and basketball. He went on to coach the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers for 23 seasons, leading them to four World Series titles. Alston was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
First pitch for Friday's game is at 5 p.m. Saturday's contest is at 4 p.m. and Sunday's will begin at 1 p.m. There is rain in the forecast so keep an eye on MiamiRedHawks.com and the @MiamiOHBaseball Twitter page for further schedule updates.

ABOUT BALL STATE
Ball State is 23-13 overall and 7-3 in the MAC. Last weekend the Cardinals took two out of three at home against Eastern Michigan, earning 3-2 and 11-5 wins the first two days before falling 7-5 on Sunday On Tuesday, BSU fell to Indiana, 14-3. The Cardinals have a strong offense with six regulars who are hitting above .300 on the season. They are led by junior outfielder Ross Messina, who is batting .317 with four home runs and 37 RBIs. Ball State's pitching staff ranks third in the nation with an average of 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Friday's scheduled starter Drey Jameson is 2-3 with a 3.93 ERA in 52.2 innings pitched. His 80 total strikeouts ranks 10th in the nation.

SERIES WITH BALL STATE            
Miami holds a 79-64 lead in the all-time series with Ball State. The RedHawks went 4-1 against the Cardinals last season. In their conference series in Muncie April 13-15, 2018, Miami took the opener of a doubleheader 17-6, while Ball State won the nightcap, 13-12. The RedHawks won the series with a 6-5 win in the finale. The teams met in a non-conference midweek game on May 8, 2018 in Oxford with Miami coming away with a 5-3 victory. They met one last time in the MAC Tournament on May 24, 2018 with the RedHawks take an 8-1 win.

UP AHEAD
The RedHawks host Xavier on Tuesday for their midweek game. First pitch is at 5 p.m. Miami welcomes Northern Illinois to McKie Field at Hayden Park for Alumni Weekend next weekend. The game on Friday, April 26 begins at 5 p.m. On Saturday, April 27, the game will start at 4 p.m., while on Sunday, April 28, first pitch is at 1 p.m.