Ball State University Athletics
Vanderbilt 6, BSU 1
March 05, 2006 | Baseball
Junior pitcher Ryan DeGeeter (Warsaw, Ind./Warsaw) made his third start of the season, finishing five innings with six strikeouts, three hits, three walks and one earned run.
Vanderbilt shortstop Dominic de la Osa, who hit the game-winning home run Saturday night, hit a sac fly to center field to drive Pedro Alvarez in for the initial run of the game in the bottom of the first. Alvarez reached first on a walk, then took second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a Parker Hanks single.
Junior Richie Fralick (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee) took over the mound for BSU in the sixth inning and surrendered a double to left field by VU's Hanks on a first-pitch fastball. Another double by Brian Hernandez knocked Hanks in to increase the Commodore lead to 2-0. A balk moved Hernandez to third, while a sac fly to center field drove him in on a very close call at the plate. Hernandez slid just under the tag of senior catcher Matt Singleton (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) to give the Commodores a 3-0 lead after six.
Ball State struck in the top of the seventh as junior shortstop Matt Gard (Muncie, Ind./Central) drove redshirt-sophomore left fielder Justin Rogers (St. Paris, Ohio/Graham) in on an RBI groundout to cut the score to 3-1. Rogers singled up the middle to get on base then a balk moved him to second. Junior right fielder Eric Earnhart (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana) pushed him to third base on a sac bunt.
The Commodores loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth with a walk, a hit batsman and an infield bunt single. A balk by Fralick advanced all runners, including VU's Alvarez at third base to give Vanderbilt a 4-1 lead. Two straight walks loaded the bases once more and scored Hanks from third. After a pop out to catcher, a third balk advanced the runners again and scored another run for Vanderbilt. The inning ended with the Commodores leading 6-1.
Fralick completed three innings on the mound with five earned runs, three hits, four walks and one strikeout. DeGeeter (0-2) took the loss. Vanderbilt's Cody Crowell picked up the win, with Tyler Rhoden getting the save.
After his five-game hitting streak ended Saturday, senior second baseman Kyle Dygert (Angola, Ind./Angola) came back strong with two hits in his first two at bats, finishing 2-for-4 on the day. Rogers also went 2-for-4.
The Ball State-Vanderbilt series is now 1-6 all-time in favor of VU. BSU's first win over the Commodores came Friday evening with a 3-2 victory.
The Cardinals will stay in Nashville to take on Belmont University (5-4) Tuesday at 2 p.m. and then travel to Evansville, Ind., for a noon game versus the University of Evansville (8-4) Wednesday.
