Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Defeats Central Michigan On Record-Setting Day For Miller
May 19, 2006 | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Brad Miller broke one school record and tied another Friday, and the Ball State baseball team moved one step closer to the Mid-American Conference West Division title.
Ball State built a three-run ninth inning lead and held on for an 8-7 win at Central Michigan to move a half-game ahead of the Chippewas in the MAC West standings. The winner of Saturday's 1 p.m. regular season finale will wrap up the division and the No. 2 seed in next week's MAC Tournament at Kent State.
"It was a great baseball game today," Ball State coach Greg Beals said. "You had two really good college baseball teams going at it and going back and forth."
Central Michigan scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and moved runners to second and third with two outs before Ball State closer Kyle Heyne struck out Chippewa left fielder Eric Cannon to preserve the win and earn his tenth save of the season.
In the top half of the inning, Miller had provided what proved to be some much needed insurance. After Mike Sullivan drew a leadoff walk to start the inning, Miller roped a line drive deep over the left field fence to give the Cardinals an 8-5 lead.
With the home run, his second of the game and 20th of the season, Miller tied the Ball State career record with 49 homers. The Cardinal first baseman also drove in five runs on the day to set a new Ball State record with 222 career RBI. Miller is one RBI short of the Ball State single-season record of 71 and three home runs shy of the single-season record of 23.
"There have been a lot of great players go through Ball State, and for Brad to break those records says a lot about him as a player," Beals said. "He's really leading our team and having a great senior season."
Miller had a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate, including a solo home run as part of a two-run first inning that gave Ball State an early lead.
Central Michigan answered with a run on a Ben Humphrey sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first and another run in the fourth to tie the game.
An RBI double from Miller scored Eric Earnhart in the top of the fifth inning to give Ball State a 3-2 lead before Central Michigan plated three runs in the bottom of the inning.
With runners on the corners and one out, Central Michigan catcher Brian Campbell ripped an RBI double through a drawn-in Ball State infield to tie the game at three. The next hitter, leadoff batter J.T. Jones, singled to score two more runs, giving Central Michigan a 5-3 advantage.
After a scoreless sixth inning, Miller added another RBI double in the seventh. In the eighth, Cardinal second baseman Kyle Dygert homered to tie the game, and Eric Earnhart plated the go-ahead run on an RBI single before Miller's ninth-inning blast gave Ball State a three-run lead.
Ball State releiver Kory Bucklew entered the game in the sixth inning and threw 2.2 shutout innings to earn the win. Heyne came in to finish off the eighth and closed the game in the ninth.
Heyne allowed a Chippewa run on a Jones sacrifice fly, and Campbell scored another Central Michigan run on an Earnhart throwing error to close the gap to one run before Heyne got the final strikeout.
Ball State has won 12 of its last 13 games and owns a 33-19 record (16-8 MAC). Central Michigan's record stands at 33-21 (16-9 MAC) heading into tomorrow's final game.
"We're excited about tomorrow," Beals said. "I told the guys that tomorrow's game is going to have a winner-takes-all, tournament-like atmosphere, and we're going to use it as preparation for the MAC Tournament."
