Ball State University Athletics
Ben Snyder Pitches Baseball Past No. 8 Kentucky to open NCAA Regional Action
June 02, 2006 | Baseball
Ball State vs. No. 8 Kentucky Box Score
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Ball State used a solid pitching performance from Ben Snyder to advance in the winner's bracket of the Lexington Regional with a 3-1 win against host Kentucky - - the No. 8 team in the country as ranked by Collegiate Baseball.
Snyder pitched eight innings, allowing one run on four hits and striking out nine Wildcat batters. He out-dueled Kentucky starter Craig Snipp to improve his record to 8-5 on the season.
BSU closer Kyle Heyne threw the final inning for the Cardinals, picking up his 12th save of the season by retiring three of the four batters he faced.
"What we thought might be an offensive game turned into a pitchers' duel," Ball State coach Greg Beals said. "Good pitching usually beats good hitting, and that's what happened tonight."
With the win, fourth-seeded Ball State advances to play No. 2 seed College of Charleston at 7 p.m. Saturday with a spot in the regional championship game on the line. Top-seeded Kentucky drops into the loser's bracket to face No. 3 seed Notre Dame in an elimination game Saturday at 2 p.m.
After giving up a run in the second inning, Snipp held Ball State scoreless over the next five. Following a leadoff single in the eighth inning by Ball State's Matt Singleton and a double from Brad Miller, Snipp left the game with one out and two base runners to his credit.
Andrew Albers then entered the game for Kentucky, and Ball State's Justin Rogers took his third pitch the opposite way down the left field line to score Singleton and Miller and give Ball State a 3-1 lead.
"The pitcher got behind 2-0 in the count," Rogers said. "When that happens, I normally look for fastballs on the outside of the plate and that's what he threw. I was able to hit it down the line."
The score had been tied 1-1 since the fifth inning. Kentucky, which managed just one hit through four innings off Snyder, got on the board in the fifth after a leadoff double by Shaun Lehmann. Antonne DeJesus followed with a sacrifice bunt before a Collin Cowgill sacrifice fly scored Lehmann to tie the game 1-1.
Ball State started the scoring in the top of the second inning when the Cardinals wedged three straight singles between two outs to load the bases. Shortstop Eric Earnhart extended his hitting streak to 20 games by singling to left field to score C.J. Webb from first and give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Singleton, Rogers, Kyle Dygert and Mike Sullivan all went 2-for-4 at the plate as the Cardinals pounded out 12 hits to Kentucky's four.
"This win says a lot about the competitiveness of our team," Beals said. "They came up big in the conference tournament and tonight Ben pitched well under the big lights, the big crowd, and in a big tournament. Rogers stepped up and got a big two-RBI hit. I'm real proud of our guys."
The victory over Kentucky is Ball State's first against a Top 10 team since the Cardinals defeated No. 6 Notre Dame 4-3 in 2001.
