Ball State University Athletics
BSU 9, Illinois State 2
March 10, 2006 | Baseball
Senior left fielder Chris Pestle (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) knocked a bases-loaded stand-up triple to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead with no outs in the second inning. Pestle drove in senior first baseman Brad Miller (Muncie, Ind./Central), who lined a single into center field, along with junior shortstop Eric Earnhart (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana) and senior third baseman C.J. Webb (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah), who were both hit by pitches. Junior second baseman Matt Gard (Muncie, Ind./Central) hit an RBI-single up the middle to drive in Pestle for a 4-0 lead.
Ball State added two runs on three hits in the fourth as junior designated hitter Mike Ayala (Brownsville, Texas/Hanna) doubled to open the inning. Gard singled to right to put runners on the corners and senior center fielder Mike Sullivan (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) hit stand-up double to move Gard to third and score Ayala. Redshirt-sophomore right fielder Justin Rogers (St. Paris, Ohio/Graham) hit a sac fly to right to drive in Gard and give BSU a 6-0 lead.
The Redbirds' Kyle O'Brien hit a 341-foot blast to right field in the fourth inning to end Ben Snyder's (Bellevue, Ohio/Bellevue) hitless game through three, cutting the score to 6-1.
In the fifth, Gard knocked in two runs on a double off the right fielder's outstretched glove. Webb, who singled up the middle, and Pestle, who was hit by a pitch, scored on the play to give the Cardinals an 8-1 lead.
Senior catcher Matt Singleton (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) hit a single in the sixth, followed with a hit-and-run by Rogers that moved him to third. Miller grounded into a double play, but drove Singleton across the plate for a 9-1 BSU lead.
Snyder (2-1), a redshirt-sophomore making his fourth start of the season, went 6.0 innings with eight strikeouts, four hits, three walks and one earned run for the win.
Junior Richie Fralick (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) entered in relief during the seventh inning and completed 2.0 innings of work, striking out three and giving up two hits.
Freshman Adam Quinn (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) took the mound in the ninth and got the Redbirds out on three popouts. ISU did register an infield single and drove that runner in on a double to the left-center gap to move the score to 9-2.
BSU evened its all-time series at 8-8 versus Illinois State.
The Cardinals face the host-team Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-5), who play Vermont in the second game of today's lineup, tomorrow at 6:30 p.m.
