Ball State University Athletics
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Western Michigan
Stoeklen Homers Twice As Cards Close Series With Win
April 29, 2007 | Baseball
KALAMAZOO, Mich. ? In a back-and-forth contest Sunday at Hyames Field, the Ball State baseball team earned a hard-fought 10-8 victory over Western Michigan.
The Cardinals (16-27, 5-13 MAC) broke out of their offensive slump with14 hits, including three home runs, as they took the final game of the weekend series from the Broncos (15-20, 8-7 MAC).
Matt Stoeklen belted two of the Ball State home runs to raise his season total to six. Wayne Bond blasted the other Cardinal homer.
On the mound, it was a staff effort for the Cardinals as they used six pitchers. Kyle Heyne finished out the game and earned his third win of the year, throwing the final 2.2 innings without having a run charged to him.
Alex Schmid led Ball State in hits with three, followed by Stoeklen, Bond, Jeremy Hazelbaker, Kory Benbow and Tyler Rogers with two each.
Tyler Rogers' second hit of the day gave the Cardinals the lead for good in the top of the ninth inning. With one out and a runner on second base, Rogers ripped a triple to right center field to break an 8-8 tie and bring home what proved to be the game-winning run. Wayne Bond then singled to score Rogers and provide the Cardinals with some insurance.
Heyne came back out for the ninth and retired the side to preserve the win, which snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Sunday's contest featured two ties and three lead changes.
Western Michigan got things started with a run in the bottom of the first inning on a Nathan Marquardt RBI double.
Ball State responded in the second inning with a two-RBI single from Schmid that scored Stoeklen and Justin Rogers, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Ball State tacked on another run in the third on a two-out solo home run from Stoeklen and extended its lead to 5-1 on a two-RBI single from Hazelbaker in the fourth.
Western Michigan, though, fought back to tie the score with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Broncos found their runs with a Pedro Dager RBI single, a Kyle Gendron sacrifice fly and a Joe McDonald two-RBI double.
McDonald's two RBI led the Broncos, while Brett Newsome recorded a team-high three hits.
Western Michigan took the lead at 6-5 with a run in the sixth. Ball State regained the advantage at 7-6 after two runs in the top of the seventh inning, but the Broncos answered with two more in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead back at 8-7.
Bond came through for Ball State with his home run in the eighth inning to set the stage for the ninth-inning win.
The Cardinals are off this week because of final exams and will return to action Friday with the first game of a three-game conference series at Toledo.
