Ball State University
Purdue
Baseball Team Defeats Purdue 17-8
April 08, 2009 | Baseball
On a cold and blustery afternoon, Ball State's baseball team got off to a quick start and never let up in its 17-8 victory at Purdue. With the win, the Cardinals improved to 15-12 overall, while the Boilermakers evened their record at 13-13.
In a game where Ball State scored at least two runs in its first six innings at the plate, the Cardinals led from start to finish. Senior Eric Van Matre was credited with the win, evening his record at 1-1 on the season.
Ball State's offense was the story of the contest, while the defense suffered through only one bad inning in the non-conference win for the Cardinals.
After three straight walks to lead off the game, Zach Dygert pasted a three run double down the leftfield line with no outs to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead after one half inning of play.
Ball State's Brenden Stines' pitching and good defense retired Purdue in three batters in the bottom half of the first, before the offense took over again in the second inning.
A leadoff single by Tim Issler, followed by a Jeremy Hazelbaker walk, left Ball State with no outs and runners on first and second. Nate Fields stepped to the plate and ripped a two-run double to right centerfield, scoring Issler and Hazelbaker. A fly out to shallow right field by Kolbrin Vitek advanced Fields to third with one out and brought Dygert to the plate. Dygert's sacrifice fly to right scored Fields and the Cardinals led the Big Ten Conference opponent 6-0 after one and a half innings.
Another quick piece of work for the Cardinals defense and pitching brought the offense back to the plate in the third inning with a 6-0 lead. For the third straight inning, Ball State started the inning with runners on first and second. Hazelbaker, who hit safely in his 10th straight game, lined a double to left centerfield, scoring Ian Nielsen and T.J. Baumet and giving the Cardinals an 8-0 lead after two and a half innings of play.
After two innings of nearly flawless Stines' pitching and Ball State defense, the Cardinals committed three errors and gave up five hits as the Boilermakers closed the gap to 8-5 with one out and runners on first and second in the bottom half of the third.
Van Matre, who played his first two seasons of college baseball at Purdue before transferring to Ball State, took the mound in relief and forced a fly out and struck out the final Purdue batter of the inning to keep the Ball State lead at 8-5 after three.
Ball State's offense returned in the fourth with Dygert leading off the inning with a double, and Kory Benbow hitting a towering home run over the leftfield fence as the Cardinals lead increased to 10-5. A Baumet double off the rightfield wall, followed by a Ryan Chenoweth RBI single increased the lead to 11-5 after three and a half innings.
Offense continued to be the theme of the day for Ball State in the fifth inning. Hazelbaker led off with an infield single, followed by a Fields single to left. With no outs, Vitek doubled down the third base line, scoring two more runs and giving Ball State a 13-5 advantage after four and a half innings.
After allowing one run in the fifth, Ball State came to the plate in the sixth and started the inning with runners on first and third with no outs, but a double play by Purdue left the Cardinals with Chenoweth on second base and two outs. Hazelbaker came to the plate and hit a pop fly that fell at the pitchers mound and turned into an RBI double, giving Ball State a 14-6 lead. A wild pitch advanced Hazelbaker to third, and a Fields single increased the Cardinals lead to 15-6.
After being held scoreless for the first time in the seventh inning, Ball State's Cody Elliott got the Cardinals back on the scoreboard with a two RBI double off the top of the left centerfield wall in the eighth to give Ball State a 17-7 lead.
The game ended with a scoreless ninth inning and a 17-8 Ball State win.
Hazelbaker was 3-for-4 on the day with three RBI and four runs scored. Fields hit safely in four of five at bats with four runs scored and three RBI. Dygert was 3-for-4 with four RBI, while Benbow and Elliott managed two RBI apiece.
The Cardinals will return to action with a MAC series at Bowling Green Friday through Sunday. Ball State enters the weekend with a 5-2 league record.
