Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Defeats Cincinnati 13-9, Wins Eighth Straight Game
May 10, 2006 | Baseball
An explosive eight-run second inning propelled Ball State to a 13-9 victory Wednesday at Cincinnati. The Cardinals out-slugged the Bearcats to earn their eighth straight win, tying their longest streak of the season.
Brad Miller had five RBI in the game, including four on a second-inning grand slam. The home run was Miller's 17th of the season and the 46th of his career, placing him three shy of the Ball State career record.
Eric Earnhart went 3-for-5 at the plate, and C.J. Webb went 2-for-3 and belted his seventh home run of the season.
Cardinal reliever Richie Fralick earned the win. He combined with fellow relievers Tyler Pritchard, Kory Bucklew and Kyle Heyne to shutout Cincinnati over the final six innings. The group allowed just two Bearcat hits during that stretch.
In the big second inning, Ball State (29-18) scored six runs before making an out. Designated hitter Matt Gard walked to start the inning. The Cardinals then got three straight hits from Earnhart, Matt Singleton and Mike Sullivan. Sullivan's single scored Gard before Miller's grand slam brought everyone home.
The inning continued with singles by Justin Rogers, Webb and Kyle Dygert. Rogers came home on Dygert's hit for the Cardinals sixth run of the inning. The Cardinals then recorded their first out, but they would add two more runs on a Gard RBI groundout and a wild pitch. In total, Ball State strung together seven straight hits in the second inning.
"Early in the game, I contemplated sacrifice bunting to move guys into scoring position, but it turned out to be a good decision to let the guys swing away," Ball State coach Greg Beals said. "We just came out of the gates really sharp."
While the second inning proved to be the decisive one, the Cardinals had gotten on the board in the first inning in different fashion. Ball State used a two-out rally to score three runs in the top of the first. Rogers plated the Cardinals first two runs on an RBI double, and Dygert drove Webb home on a single up the middle.
The Cardinals added another run in the third inning on Webb's homer and one more in the seventh on a Miller sacrifice fly.
Cincinnati (30-19) matched Ball State's three runs in the first inning, and the Bearcats made a push to close the gap with six runs in the third, highlighted by a grand slam of their own from Josh Harrison.
Cincinnati then loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning, but Fralick struck out Jon DeLuca to end the threat. From there, the Cardinal bullpen sent Cincinnati down in order in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings and faced just four batters in the seventh.
"Our bullpen guys did what we expect them to do," Beals said. "They've been pretty good, and they pitched solid tonight."
With two non-conference games complete this week, Ball State returns to Mid-American Conference action this weekend with a three-game series at Northern Illinois. Game one is slated to start Friday at 3 p.m. (4 p.m. Muncie time).
