Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
Bowling Green
Baseball Drops Series Finale At Bowling Green, 9-3
April 11, 2010 | Baseball
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Ball State baseball team dropped just its second Mid-American Conference game of the year Sunday afternoon as the Cardinals suffered a 9-3 loss to two-time defending MAC regular season champion Bowling Green at Steller Field. The loss drops the Cardinals to 7-2 in league play this season and snaps a six-game MAC winning streak for BSU.
Ball State (13-17, 7-2 MAC) opened the scoring in the top of the first for the third straight game in the series as it plated two runs against BGSU right-hander Kevin Leady. Sophomore Mitch Widau (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) and freshman Blake Beemer (Clayton, Ohio/Northmont) led off the game with back-to-back singles to pace the offense.
After an out, senior catcher Zach Dygert (Angola, Ind./Angola) was hit by a pitch to load the bases for sophomore Ian Nielsen (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) who earned an eight-pitch walk to plate the Cardinals' first run of the afternoon. Senior Kory Benbow (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) drove in the second run as he bounced out to third base to plate Beemer and give the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead.
Bowling Green (9-17-1, 3-6 MAC) broke through in the bottom of the fifth inning against junior right-hander Kolbrin Vitek (Bryan, Ohio/Bryan) as it scored five runs to take its first lead of the weekend series. The Falcons tallied four hits in the inning and took advantage of three BSU walks and a hit by pitch to take a 5-2 lead and chase Vitek from the game. Junior left-hander Derek Grabner (Fort Wayne, Ind./Lincoln Trail) came on in relief with the bases loaded and induced an easy ground ball to second base to end the threat.
The Falcons extended their lead to 8-2 with three additional runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as they took advantage of four Ball State errors in the inning. Bowling Green chipped in another run in the bottom of the eighth inning as it took advantage of the Cardinals' fifth error of the afternoon.
The Cardinals tried to make a late rally in the ninth inning but only plated one run to round out the scoring. Nielsen led off the inning with a single and moved to second as Benbow drew a walk. After an error load the bases, freshman Kevin Franchetti (Highland, Ind./Andrean) drove in a run with a ground ball to the shortstop for the Cardinals' third run.
Vitek (1-3) was charged with the loss as he allowed five runs on five hits in 4.2 innings of work. Leady (4-1) earned the victory for the Falcons as he limited the Cardinals to two runs on three hits in 7.0 innings of work while striking out seven batters.
The Cardinals step out of non-conference play Tuesday afternoon as they travel to Big Ten foe Purdue for a 4 p.m. first pitch.
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