Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
Louisville
Louisville Hands Baseball 9-3 Loss Tuesday Night
May 14, 2008 | Baseball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Ball State baseball team lost 9-3 Tuesday at Louisville in its final non-conference game of the regular season.
Shortstop Dean Anna and second baseman T.J. Baumet led Ball State offensively with two hits each, while five other Ball State players tallied one hit apiece.
Ball State led early, but three runs for Louisville in the fourth and three more in the sixth forced Ball State to play from behind.
Louisville third baseman Chris Dominguez turned in the best offensive performance of the game. Dominguez blasted two home runs and tallied a game-high six RBI.
Gabriel Shaw earned the win on the mound for Louisville after pitching two innings of relief. Aaron Hammons took the loss for Ball State.
Ball State returns to action Thursday with the first game of a regular season-ending, three-game series at Toledo. The first pitch Thursday is slated for 3 p.m.
In Tuesday's game, Ball State found the scoreboard early with a run in the first inning. Anna led off the game and reached on his 16th double of the season. He moved to third base on a ground out by center fielder Wayne Bond Jr. and then came home to score on a sacrifice fly from left fielder Kory Benbow, giving Ball State a 1-0 lead.
After a quiet opening three innings, Louisville picked up its offense in the fourth inning. Following a leadoff walk to designated hitter Josh Richmond and a single from second baseman Justin McClanahan, Louisville third baseman Chris Dominguez stepped to the plate and ripped his 17th home run of the year to put Louisville ahead 3-1.
Ball State got one of those runs back in the fifth inning on a solo home run from Baumet, cutting the Louisville lead to 3-2. The home run was Baumet's sixth of the season and his second in as many games.
Ball State then knotted the game 3-3 in the top of the sixth inning when Benbow led off with a triple and came home to score on a single from designated hitter Kolbrin Vitek.
As quickly as Ball State had evened the score, however, Louisville regained the lead. Richmond led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a solo home run to put Louisville back on top 4-3. Louisville then added two more runs on a two-run blast from Dominguez, his second of the day.
The sixth-inning damage could have been worse for Ball State, but reliever Tom Mueller pitched out of a jam to get Ball State out of the inning. After Louisville had scored three runs, Mueller entered the game with no outs and runners on first and second. The left-hander retired three batters in a row to keep the Louisville lead at 6-3 heading into the late innings.
Mueller was one of seven Ball State pitchers to see the mound on what was a staff day.
Louisville later tacked on two runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth for the final six-run margin of victory.
