Ball State University
29-26, 13-10
Central Michigan
29-25, 16-7
Central Michigan Clinches MAC West With 8-6 Victory
May 19, 2017 | Baseball
With the win, Central Michigan (29-25, 16-7 MAC) clinched the Mid-American Conference West Division crown and the No. 2 seed for next week's MAC Tournament.
Friday's game featured lots of late-inning fireworks. Ball State (29-26, 13-10) trailed 4-2 heading into the top of the eighth inning. The Cardinals loaded the bases with just one out in the eighth thanks to three walks.
CMU relief pitcher Colton Bradley got the second out with a strikeout. He then got ahead in the count on sophomore Trent Theisen, 0-2, only to see Theisen launch the next pitch just inside the right field foul pole for a grand slam. The home run was Theisen's first as a collegiate player and also gave Ball State a 6-4 lead.
However, the Chippewas responded in the ninth with four runs of their own, capped by Greenman's walk-off home run, to claim the victory.
Because of Ball State's loss and Eastern Michigan's win today, the Cardinals are locked into the No.4-5 game against Ohio to begin the MAC Tournament next week. Ohio swept Ball State in three games in early April.
The Cardinals wrap up the regular season tomorrow, May 20 with the series finale at Central Michigan. Game time has been changed to 1:05 p.m. due to a projected rainy forecast.
For the most up-to-date information on the Ball State baseball team, including schedule updates for this weekend's series, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateBB and @CoachMaloney.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: BRADLEY,COLTON (6-1)
L: Burns, Brendan (4-3)
Batting:
2B: Maloney, Alex 1 ; Baisa, Roman 1
HR: Theisen, Trent 1
RBI: Theisen, Trent 4 ; Baisa, Roman 1
SH: Eppers, Matt 1 ; Riedel, Jeff 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Stayton, Caleb 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 1 ; Riedel, Jeff 1 ; Hulecki, Griffin 1 ; Freed, Seth 1 ; Theisen, Trent 1
Batting:
2B: SULLIVAN,JASON 1
HR: GREENMAN,ROBERT 1
RBI: ROBINSON,DANIEL 1 ; JIPPING,DANIEL 1 ; KRATT,EVAN 1 ; GREENMAN,ROBERT 3 ; STOKOWSKI,NICK 2
SH: HEEKE,ZACH 1
SF: JIPPING,DANIEL 1 ; KRATT,EVAN 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BORGLIN,ALEX 1 ; SULLIVAN,JASON 2 ; ROBINSON,DANIEL 2 ; JIPPING,DANIEL 2 ; GREENMAN,ROBERT 1
CS: ROBINSON,DANIEL 1
HBP: SULLIVAN,JASON 1
