Ball State University
Ohio
Cardinals Take One Of Three In MAC Series At Ohio
April 09, 2007 | Baseball
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ATHENS, Ohio - Ball State and Ohio played nearly 25 innings of baseball Sunday.
The team's first picked up the opening game of their weekend series where they had left off when the game was suspended by snow Friday. After not playing at all Saturday because of weather, the teams were then forced to also play the second and third games of the series on Sunday.
After dropping the first two games, Ball State (12-18, 3-6 MAC) managed a win in the series finale.
Mid-American Conference rules do not allow teams to start three games in one day, but teams can play two games and any remaining innings of a game that has already been started.
Game 3 Recap
Ball State came from behind to earn a 6-4 win in Sunday's final game.
Trailing 4-2 through seven innings, Ball State put up four runs in the eighth inning to take the lead. Wayne Bond brought two runs home with a double, and Justin Rogers followed with a double of his own to score Bond. The Cardinals added another run on an Ohio error to take a 6-4 lead.
Kyle Heyne threw the final 1.1 innings to earn his eighth save of the season. Heyne took over for Josh Vollmer, who earned the win after throwing 1.1 innings in relief of starter Ryan DeGeeter, who kept the Cardinals in the game with a strong outing.
Ball State pounded out 13 hits, including two each from Eric Earnhart, Bond, Joe Mack and Jeremy Hazelbaker.
Ohio started the scoring in Sunday's final game with two runs in the third inning on a Matt Stiffler RBI single and a Marc Krauss RBI double.
Ball State answered with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning. An Alex Schmid two-RBI single plated the Cardinals' runs, knotting the score 2-2.
Ohio regained the lead with two runs in the seventh before Ball State's four-run eighth.
Game 2 Recap
In the second game of the day but first complete game, Ohio scored on a walk-off single to earn a 7-6 win.
Marc Krauss reached on a two-out single for Ohio in the bottom of the ninth and then stole second base. Brandon Besl then followed with a single through the right side to bring home the game-winning run.
The Ohio rally spoiled a Ball State comeback in the top of the ninth. Trailing 6-4 through eight innings, the Cardinals tied the game with two runs. Earnhart came home on a wild pitch, and a Nate Fields RBI single up the middle tied the game 6-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Seven different Cardinals recorded a hit in the game, and Brad Piatt threw 4.1 shutout innings out of the bullpen, but it was not enough to earn a win.
Ball State got off to a good start with two runs in the top of the first inning. Earnhart led off the game with a double and later advanced to third base and came home on a double steal. Bond, who was on first base at the time of the double steal after being hit by a pitch, later came home to score on a wild pitch.
After going scoreless through three innings, Ohio rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth. A two-RBI double from Willie Walker and a two-RBI single off the bat of Jason Selhorst gave the Bobcats a 4-2 lead.
The Cardinals answered back with two runs in the top of the fifth inning to even the score 4-4. Ball State scored its runs in the fifth without a hit after two walks to lead off the inning, a throwing error that scored one run and a Kory Benbow sacrifice fly that scored the other.
Walker brought home two more runs for Ohio with a single in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Bobcats a 6-4 lead that they held until the ninth inning.
Game 1 Recap
After a 41-hour delay, the Ball State and Ohio baseball teams finally concluded the first game of their weekend series Sunday.
Weather suspended the game Friday and postponed play all day Saturday. When the teams returned to the field Sunday, Ohio regained the early lead it had two days earlier and rode out an 11-6 win.
Ryan Chenoweth led Ball State with four hits in the game, followed by Earnhart with three hits and Zach Dygert with two. As a team, the Cardinals had 13 hits.
The Cardinals and Bobcats resumed play at noon Sunday with the score tied 5-5, and Ohio quickly regained the lead it lost on Friday. The Bobcats took a 6-5 advantage on a Hayden Johnson solo home run in the bottom of the third inning. Ohio then tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning on back-to-back two-out RBI singles from Krauss and Walker.
Ball State got one run back in the top of the sixth inning when, after loading the bases, Matt Stoeklen grounded into a fielder's choice to bring a run home, cutting Ohio's lead to 8-6.
The Cardinals put runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings but were unable to push any more runs across. Ohio added three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth and sent Ball State down in order in the ninth.
