Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
Eastern Michigan
Cardinals Fall To Eastern Michigan Sunday In Ninth Inning
April 22, 2007 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State baseball team entered the ninth inning Sunday against Eastern Michigan with a chance to win, but it was the visiting Eagles that came up with some ninth inning runs to leave Ball Diamond with a victory.
Eastern Michigan (16-15, 12-1 MAC) remained atop the Mid-American Conference by winning all three games of the weekend series over Ball State (15-24, 4-11 MAC).
"It was a disappointing weekend because we lost an opportunity here at home to gain some ground in our division," Ball State coach Greg Beals said. "Losing all three games is a big blow."
Ball State returns to action with a 5:05 p.m. start Tuesday at Notre Dame before heading to Western Michigan next weekend to resume conference play.
In Sunday's game, Matt Stoeklen homered for the second straight day for Ball State. He now owns four home runs on the season, tying him with Ryan Chenoweth and Jeremy Hazelbaker for second on the team behind Kory Benbow's eight.
Stoeklen's home run came in the bottom of the fifth inning and tied the game 4-4.
Both teams then went scoreless for the next three innings. Kyle Heyne entered the game for Ball State with runners on second and third base and two outs in the top of the seventh inning. He faced one batter in the seventh and struck him out to preserve the tie.
Heyne then held Eastern Michigan without a run in the eighth inning before the Eagles again found some offense in the top of the ninth. With two outs, Eastern Michigan managed three straight singles. Jeff Davis came to the plate with a runner on third base and singled to bring home what proved to be the game-winning run. Davis advanced to third on a Josh Ivan single and then scored on a hit from Jeff Hehr, giving the Eagles a 6-4 lead.
Ball State could not manage a run after Stoeklen's homer. Matt Shoemaker came on for Eastern Michigan in the bottom of the ninth inning and sent the Cardinals down in order to earn the save.
Sean Hoffman earned the win for the Eagles after throwing 8.0 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out five batters.
Ball State jumped out to an early lead against Hoffman, scoring three runs in the first inning. Eric Earnhart plated a run on a fielder's choice ground ball that scored leadoff man Wayne Bond, and Justin Rogers brought two more runs home on a single to left field.
After Ball State starter Richie Fralick shut down Eastern Michigan through the first three innings, the Eagles managed to even the score with three runs in the fourth. Eastern Michigan then took a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth on an RBI groundout from Ivan before Stoeklen's home run in the bottom of the inning knotted the score again.
Stoeklen had two hits in the game to lead Ball State, and five other Cardinals had one hit apiece. Rogers' two RBI were the most for any Cardinal in Sunday's contest.
Ivan, Hehr and Patrick Dean each had two hits for Eastern Michigan, and Hehr added three RBI to lead the Eagles.
