Ball State University Athletics
BSU 5, Louisville 3 (Game One); BSU 6, Louisville 4 (Game Two)
March 18, 2006 | Baseball
Ball State vs. Louisville (3/18/06) Game Two Box Score
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Ball State University baseball team (7-9) defeated the University of Louisville (6-14) 5-3 in game one and 6-4 in game two of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Patterson Stadium.
GAME ONE
BSU kicked off some of the rust from Friday's game with two singles, two stolen bases and one run in the top of the first inning. Junior shortstop Eric Earnhart (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana) led off by hitting a single that deflected off the pitcher and followed that up by stealing second base. Senior center fielder Mike Sullivan (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) knocked Earnhart in with a single and added another stolen base before the Cardinals' inning ended with a 1-0 lead.
Senior right fielder Brian Meyer (Archbold, Ohio/Archbold) added Ball State's third hit of the game with a double to right field in the top of the second, but no runs resulted from it.
With a sac fly, senior third baseman C.J. Webb (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) drove in senior first baseman Brad Miller (Muncie, Ind./Central), who reached on an error, got to second on a wild pitch and third on a sac fly, giving Ball State a 2-0 lead after four innings.
Louisville cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a hit-and-run, scoring Nick Haley on a single up the middle by Jorge Castillo.
U of L tied the game and eventually took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth as Logan Johnson scored on a Michael Urti double and Derrick Alfonso scored on a Chris Cates sac fly to right field.
Ball State scored three runs in the top of the sixth after senior catcher Matt Singleton (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) reached on an error by Louisville's shortstop and advanced to second on the throw. Sullivan hit an RBI double to left field to score Singleton and tie the game, while Miller lined a shot past the third baseman for an RBI double, pushing Sullivan home to regain the BSU lead. Louisville replaced starting pitcher Trystan Magnuson with Jake Smith, who threw back-to-back wild pitches and allowed Miller to score for a 5-3 lead.
Sophomore pitcher Tyler Pritchard (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) (1-1) pitched five innings and finished with five hits, three earned runs, one strikeout and four walks for his first win of the year.
Senior Kory Bucklew (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) entered the game in the bottom of the sixth inning and shut down Louisville the final four innings with four hits, zero earned runs and one strikeout for the save.
GAME TWO
Ball State carried its offense into game two of Saturday's doubleheader as the Cardinals put two runs on the board in the top of the first inning. Sullivan singled to left field and was pushed over to second base on a sac bunt by Singleton. Miller drove Sullivan in on an RBI double down the third-base line, followed by an RBI single from Webb that knocked in Miller.
Louisville added a run in the bottom of the first as Jorge Castillo singled to right center to drive in Chris Cates, following Cates' single and advancement on a walk.
U of L tied the game up at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth as Alec Lowrey singled up the middle to drive in Michael Urti, who walked to get on first and advanced to second on a groundout.
Freshman pitcher Ryan Schmidt (Decatur, Ind./Bellmont) made his second start of the year going 3.2 innings with three hits, two earned runs, four strikeouts and five walks.
Freshman Jay Broughton (Indianapolis, Ind./Triton Central) entered in relief with two outs and runners on the corners in the fourth and got a groundout to end the inning.
Miller opened the top of the fifth inning with a first-pitch solo shot over the left field fence – his third of the season and 32nd career blast – to help BSU regain the lead at 3-2. With the bases loaded -- Webb walk, Dygert single and Pestle walk – senior catcher Jon Byerly (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) hit an RBI grounder to third and reached on a throwing error, scoring Dygert after a force out at home.
Broughton and the Ball State defense escaped the bottom of the fifth with no runs scored after loading the bases with two walks and a hit batter.
The BSU Cardinals added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning as Sullivan and Singleton each scored from third base on wild pitches to make it a 6-2 game. Sullivan reached initially on a walk, while Singleton singled to right field.
Louisville added two runs in the bottom of the seventh as Michael Urti's single to left center drove in Jorge Castillo and Daniel Burton, cutting the Ball State lead to 6-4.
Broughton finished 3.1 innings of work with three hits, two earned runs, two strikeouts and three walks to improve his record to 1-1 this season. Redshirt-sophomore Kyle Heyne (Coldwater, Ohio/Coldwater) came on to pitch in the bottom of the eighth and held U of L scoreless for the final two innings to get his third save of the year.
The all-time series is tied at 7-7 after Ball State's two wins today.
The Cardinals and U of L will wrap up their series tomorrow at 1 p.m.
