Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
#5 Bowling Green
Baseball Eliminated From MAC Tournament With Loss to BGSU
May 28, 2010 | Baseball
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The Ball State baseball team concluded its 2010 Mid-American Conference Tournament run Friday morning as the fourth-seeded Cardinals were eliminated by fifth-seeded Bowling Green with a 7-4 loss at VA Memorial Stadium. The loss ends the Cardinals' season with a 29-29 overall record while Bowling Green improves to 30-22-1 and will face top-seeded Central Michigan at 4 p.m.
Bowling Green struck first against senior right-hander Brad Piatt (Galveston, Ind./Lewis Cass) in the top of the second inning. Jon Berti led off with an infield single and quickly stole second to move into scoring position. After a walk to Clay Duncan put two aboard, Matthew Pitzulo notched a two-run double into left center field to make it a 2-0 BGSU lead. Piatt settled in and got the next two batters out to strand Pitzulo on second base.
The Falcons extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the third inning as they scored two runs after two outs. Bowling Green posted three straight doubles to left field, including run-scoring hits from Berti and Mark Galvin to take the four-run lead.
Ball State broke through against BGSU right-hander Cody Apthorpe in the bottom of the third inning. Junior T.J. Baumet (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) opened the scoring as he hit his ninth home run of the year over the left center field wall for his third home run in his last three games to make it a 4-1 contest. The Cardinals loaded the bases following the home run with two outs but Apthorpe was able to strike out sophomore Ian Nielsen (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) to end the threat.
Bowling Green extended its lead to 7-1 with a run in the fourth and two more in the sixth. The Falcons continued notching doubles as they hit two in the sixth to give them seven for the game.
Ball State notched its second run of the afternoon in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sophomore Cody Elliott (Florence, Ky./Beechwood) led off the inning with a double down the left field line and quickly moved to third as he stole his 13th base of the season. Sophomore Mitch Widau (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) drove him in as he lifted a sacrifice fly into center field to make it a 7-2 game.
Ball State narrowed the gap to 7-4 with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Freshman Stephen Claypool (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) led off the inning with a single and Elliott singled through the left side to put two aboard. Senior Ryan Chenoweth (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) ripped a two-run double down the right field line against Ross Gerdeman to cut the deficit to three runs.
Ball State was unable to scratch across any more runs in the bottom of the ninth inning as Patrick O'Brien recorded three straight outs for his second save in the MAC Tournament.
Piatt (3-5) was charged with the loss as he allowed four runs on five hits in 3.0 innings of work. Vitek tossed 5.0 solid innings of relief as he limited BGSU to two runs on four hits. Apthorpe (3-2) picked up the victory as he went 6.0 solid innings and allowed two runs on four hits but did walk five batters.
####
