Ball State University
Eastern Michigan
Stoeklen Homers But Cardinals Fall 6-3 To Eastern Michigan
April 21, 2007 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. - For the second straight day, Eastern Michigan pitching controlled the Ball State bats. The Eagles allowed just three runs for the second day in a row, handing the Cardinals a 6-3 loss Saturday at Ball Diamond in the second game of this weekend's series.
The third and final game of the series is slated for Sunday at 1:05 p.m. and will be televised on Comcast Local.
Eastern Michigan, the first place team in the Mid-American Conference West Division, improved to 15-15 overall and 11-1 in the league, while Ball State dropped to 15-23 overall and 4-10 in MAC play.
Eastern Michigan starter George Biddle earned the win, allowing two runs on four hits in 7.1 innings.
The Cardinals finally broke through on Biddle with a run in the seventh inning on an Alex Schmid RBI groundout that scored Ryan Chenoweth. After giving up three runs in the top of the eighth to fall behind 6-1, Ball State pushed two runs across in the bottom of the inning on a Matt Stoeklen two-run homer.
Stoeklen's two RBI improve his team-leading total to 25 on the season. Eric Earnhart led the Cardinals in Saturday's contest with two hits, including a triple. Earnhart reached base in all four of his plate appearances and also stole two bases.
Brenden Stines started on the mound for Ball State and went 7.2 innings, allowing four runs but only one earned run. Stines struck out seven batters.
Trumaine Riley led Eastern Michigan with three hits. The Eagles scored two runs in the third inning on a two-RBI single from Derek Lehrman. After adding a run in the sixth, Eastern Michigan padded its lead again with three runs in the top of the eighth on a two-RBI single from Riley and an RBI triple off the bat of Jeff Davis.
Matt Shoemaker threw the final 1.1 innings for Eastern Michigan to earn the save.
