Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
Toledo
Baseball Falls At Toledo, 8-7; Fourth Seed In MAC Tournament
May 22, 2010 | Baseball
TOLEDO, Ohio - The Ball State baseball team suffered a heartbreaking 8-7 loss at Mid-American Conference rival Toledo Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale. The Cardinals held a 7-3 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning before Toledo scored two in the eighth and three in the ninth to claim the victory.
The loss drops the Cardinals to 19-8 in league play and coupled with Central Michigan's victory Saturday drops BSU into second place in the MAC West Division with Toledo. The Cardinals will now be a fourth seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament and will face fifth-seeded Bowling Green, which finished tied atop the MAC East, in the first round at a 9 a.m. in Chillicothe, Ohio Wednesday. Central Michigan claims the MAC regular season title with a 20-7 record and the number one seed, Kent State the two seed as MAC East champions and Toledo the three seed.
Toledo (33-20, 19-8 MAC) opened the scoring first in the bottom of the fourth inning against junior right-hander Kolbrin Vitek (Bryan, Ohio/Bryan). Jared Hoying gave Toledo the early lead as he hit his 14th home run of the season over the right field wall. The Rockets kept the inning going as Joe Corfman reached on a bunt single before back-to-back walks loaded the bases. Vitek looked like he got out of the inning as he induced a pop fly to short but the ball was lost in the sun for a two-base error and Toledo took a 3-0 lead.
Ball State (28-27, 19-8 MAC) came right back in the top of the fifth inning against Toledo right-hander Lincoln Rassi. Sophomore Ian Nielsen (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) opened the inning as he was hit by a pitch with one out.
Freshman Stephen Claypool (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) followed with the Cardinals' first hit as he ripped a single into center field, snapping Rassi's no-hit bid in the fifth. Sophomore Cody Elliott (Florence, Ky./Beechwood) quickly tied the game as he lined a 1-1 pitch over the left center field wall for his seventh home run of the season to knot the game at 3-3 and chase Rassi from the game.
The Cardinals took their first lead of the afternoon in the top of the sixth inning against right-handed reliever Cody Umbright. Vitek helped his own cause as he led off the inning by crushing a 2-0 pitch high over the left field wall for his team-leading 16th home run of the season to give Ball State a 4-3 lead.
Toledo threatened in the bottom half of the inning against freshman left-hander Jon Cisna (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township). Aaron Dudley led off the inning as he dropped a bloop single into right field and was quickly sacrificed over to second base. Cisna got the second out of the inning on a weak ground ball to second. Junior right-hander Heath Riley (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson) came in out of the bullpen and quickly induced a ground ball to short to end the inning and strand the runner on third base.
Once again Toledo threatened in the seventh inning as Josh Wierzba led off the inning with a single and was quickly sacrificed to second base. Riley notched the second out of the inning as he got Tim Krofcheck to strike out swinging. Senior Brad Piatt (Galveston, Ind./Lewis Cass) came out of the pen for just the fifth time this season and after falling behind 3-0 battled back to induced a ground ball from Hoying on a full count pitch to thwart the threat.
Ball State got some much needed breathing room in the top of the eighth inning. Sophomore Tim Issler (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) led off the inning with an opposite field single and freshman Blake Beemer (Clayton, Ohio/Northmont) was walked to put two aboard. The Rockets elected to stay with Umbright and Vitek made them pay as he crushed his 17th home run and second of the day off the building in left field to put BSU in front 7-3. The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out before Kyle Shaw induced an inning-ending double play to keep it a four-run game.
Toledo came right back in the bottom of the eighth inning to plate two runs to narrow the gap to 7-5. Piatt issued a leadoff walk to Corfman before Matt Delewski and Dan Sherwood reached on back-to-back singles to load the bases. Jim Vahalik drove in one run with a sacrifice fly before pinch hitter Jeff Cola narrowed the BSU lead to 7-5 with a single. Chris Dudics followed with a single to center field but Elliott made a perfect throw to the plate to nail Sherwood at the plate for the final out of the inning.
The Rockets made the comeback complete in the bottom of the ninth inning as Krofcheck led off the inning with a solo home run against Seth Hobbs (Marseilles, Ill./Seneca). After a walk and a wild pitch put Hoying on second, the Cardinals misplayed an attempted sacrifice bunt by Corfman twice that allowed the game-tying run to score and Corfman advance all the way to third base with nobody out.
Left-hander Derek Grabner (Fort Wayne, Ind./Lincoln Trail) intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases and set up a force at any base. Grabner got the first out of the inning as he got a ground ball with the Cardinals forcing an out at home plate. The Cardinals almost got out of the inning as Vahalik lined out to right field and the throw to first base to get the runner heading back to the bag was not handled quickly and the game-winning run scored at home before the force out.
Grabner (4-3) was charged with the loss as he worked the final two-thirds of an inning and allowed one unearned run. Vitek got a no decision after tossing 5.0 strong innings and allowing one earned run while striking out six batters. Inselmann (4-1) picked up the victory as he got just one out in the ninth inning.
Vitek finished the afternoon with three hits, including two home runs, and drove in four of the team's seven runs. Elliott added three RBI and reached base twice in the loss for the Cardinals.
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