Ball State University
Citadel
Baseball Falls At The Citadel, 6-4
March 09, 2011 | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S. C. - The Ball State baseball team continued its annual spring break trip Tuesday afternoon with a 6-4 loss to The Citadel at Riley Park. The Cardinals allowed four first inning runs to the Bulldogs and could not overcome the early deficit despite out-hitting The Citadel 9-7 in the loss.
Sophomore left-hander Jon Cisna (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township) had a strong showing in relief as he tossed 3.0 shutout innings to keep the Cardinals in the contest. Cisna limited the Bulldogs to just one hit over the final three innings and did not walk a batter.
Ball State (1-10) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning as junior Cody Elliott (Florence, Ky./Beechwood) led off with a single and was quickly sacrificed to second base. After a wild pitch moved Elliot up 90 feet, sophomore Stephen Claypool (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.
The Citadel answered right back in the bottom of the first inning against freshman Devin Wilburn (Selma, Ind./Wapahani). The Bulldogs posted three hits in the inning, including a pair of run-scoring doubles. Joe Jackson had the big blow in the inning as he ripped a bases-clearing double to right field to make it a 4-1 contest.
After the Bulldogs made it a 5-1 lead in the second inning, the Cardinals started to claw back into the game with a run in the third inning. Elliott once again got things started as he singled to left field and quickly stole second base to move into scoring position. Junior Mitch Widau (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) continued his strong start to the season as he singled through the left side to plate Elliott and make it a 5-2 contest.
The Citadel looked ready to break the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning as it quickly loaded the bases against redshirt freshman Kyle Raleigh (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills). The Bulldogs drew a bases loaded walk to run the lead to 6-2, but Raleigh stymied the threat as he induced a ground ball double play to end the inning.
The Cardinals continued to chip away at the deficit as they scored one in the sixth inning, taking advantage of a Bulldog error to score an unearned run. Ball State trimmed the deficit to 6-4 in the top of the eighth inning as Tim Issler (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) drew his second walk of the game. Freshman Sean Godfrey (New Albany, Ind./New Albany) pinch ran for Issler and was driven in as sophomore Wes Winkle (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) doubled to left field.
Ball State was unable to complete the comeback as Elliott flew out to end the eighth inning and the Cardinals went down in order in the ninth. Wilburn (0-1) picked up the loss in his first career start as he allowed five runs on five hits in 2.1 innings of work while Raleigh tossed 2.2 innings of one-run baseball.
The Citadel started Connor Hitchingham (1-0) picked up the victory as he went 5.0 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits while walking two batters. Drew Mahaffey posted his fourth shutout of the young season with a scoreless ninth inning.
Ball State will continue its spring break trip Wednesday afternoon as it takes on the College of Charleston at 5 p.m.
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