Ball State University
Kent State
Baseball Splits Sunday Doubleheader With Kent State
April 16, 2007 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State and Kent State baseball teams entered Sunday's doubleheader at Ball Diamond with identical overall records. After splitting the pair of games, the teams also left with identical records.
Ball State (14-20, 4-8 MAC) rallied late in game one to earn a 7-6 win in 10 innings. Kent State (14-20, 6-6 MAC) then responded with a 13-5 victory in Sunday's second game to earn a split of the doubleheader and take two out of three games in the weekend series.
The Cardinals and Golden Flashes played a doubleheader after they were rained out in their attempt to play game two of the series Saturday.
Ball State will be back in action with a doubleheader Wednesday at Ohio State with the first pitch slated for 3 p.m. The Cardinals' game with Huntington, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed. The teams will attempt to make that game up later in the season.
In Sunday's doubleheader, Ball State's Wayne Bond hit safely in both games to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. The centerfielder also drew two walks in each game to reach base in six of his 10 at bats on the day.
Eric Earnhart led the Cardinals with five his in the two games combined to raise his batting average to .305. Matt Stoeklen added four hits on the day to raise his team-leading average to .319.
Game 1 Recap
In the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, Ball State rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning and then scored again in the tenth to earn a 7-6 victory.
Stoeklen had three hits and two RBI in the game for Ball State, and Earnhart added two hits.
Kory Benbow led off the bottom of the tenth inning with a double and advanced to second base on a Ryan Chenoweth sacrifice bunt. Following a groundout, Tyler Rogers came to the plate and beat out an infield single to bring home the game-winning run.
Kyle Heyne earned the win after entering the game in the top of the tenth inning and sending the Golden Flashes down in order. Brenden Stines got the start for Ball State and threw eight strong innings. Stines scattered eight hits, and just one of the five runs he allowed was earned.
The Cardinals, though, would not have had a chance to win it in the tenth if not for some heroics from Nate Fields in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on first and second and two outs, Fields came to the plate as Ball State's final hope. The designated hitter, who had entered the game as a pinch runner in the seventh inning, singled down the right field line to score the tying run and send the game to extra innings.
In a losing effort, Chris Tremblay, Anthony Gallas, Jason Patton and Conor Egan led Kent State with two hits each.
Ball State built an early lead with three runs in the first inning, but Kent State followed with five unanswered runs over the next three and a half innings. The Cardinals chipped away with a run in the fifth and one more in the seventh, but Kent State added a another run of its own in the top of the ninth to take a 6-5 lead before Fields' game-tying hit.
Game 2 Recap
In Sunday's second game, Kent State pounded out 14 hits and drew 11 walks as a team on its way to a 13-5 win.
Earnhart led Ball State with three hits, and Jeremy Hazelbaker added two hits in the loss.
Anthony Gallas notched three of the 14 hits for the Golden Flashes and recorded a game-high six RBI. Brad Winter also had three hits for Kent State.
It was Gallas' three-run home run in the fifth inning that put Kent State ahead for good. Ball State entered the fifth with a 2-1 advantage, but Doug Sanders led off the inning with a single, and Andrew Davis drew a walk to put runners on first and second for Gallas. The left fielder then sent a pitch high over the right field fence to put the Golden Flashes ahead 4-2.
Kent State tacked on four runs in the seventh, one in the eighth and four more in the ninth.
Chris Carpenter picked up the win for Kent State after coming on to throw 3.1 innings in relief, allowing two runs on two hits while striking out three batters.
Ball State managed two runs in the seventh inning on a Stoeklen RBI double and a Justin Rogers sacrifice fly. The Cardinals then added a run in the eighth on an RBI single from Earnhart but could not come all the way back.
The Cardinals helped Kent State with three errors in the game. Of the 13 runs Ball State pitchers allowed, only seven were earned.
