Ball State University
5-20
Indiana
13-16
Baseball Falls In Marathon Game At Indiana
April 05, 2012 | Baseball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - In its longest games since 2004, the Ball State baseball team dropped a 6-5 15-inning contest to Big Ten foe Indiana Wednesday afternoon at Sembower Field. Indiana center fielder Justin Cureton posted a walk-off single in the bottom of the 15th inning with two outs as the game was on the brink of being suspended due to darkness.
The 15-inning contest marks the longest Ball State baseball game since Ball State and Notre Dame played 15 innings April 27, 2004 with the Cardinals dropping a 7-6 contest. The extra inning game marked the fourth game out of the last five that Ball State has gone into extra frames.
Sophomore left-hander Nestor Bautista (New York, N.Y./George Washington) was one of five Cardinals' pitchers that limited the Hoosiers to nine hits while striking out 13 batters. Bautista worked 6.0 strong innings of relief as he allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out seven batters.
Sophomore right fielder Sean Godfrey (New Albany, Ind./New Albany) led the Cardinals offensively as he posted three of the Cardinals' 12 hits. Junior catcher Kevin Franchetti (Highland, Ind./Andrean) and senior third baseman Tim Issler (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) drove in a pair of runs each in the loss.
Ball State (5-20) opened the scoring in the top of the third inning against Indiana right-hander Luke Harrison. Franchetti led off the inning by crushing 1-0 pitch off the left field foul pole for his first home run of the season. The home run was the second of Franchetti's career as he posted a two-run shot April 24, 2011 against Central Michigan.
Indiana (13-16) answered back in the bottom of the third inning against sophomore right-hander Jacob Brewer (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph's). Justin Cureton drew a leadoff walk and came home to score as Kyle Schwarber doubled down the right field line to tie the game at 1-1. Brewer limited the damage to just one run as he stranded two in scoring position posting back-to-back strikeouts against the heart of the Indiana batting order.
The Cardinals manufactured a run in the top of the fourth inning against Indiana reliever Drew Leininger. Godfrey poked a single through the left side and quickly stole second base. After a fly ball moved Godfrey to third, Issler gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead as he reached on an infield single.
Indiana responded in the bottom of the fifth inning as it scored two runs without a hit to chase Brewer from the game. The Hoosiers took advantage of a walk, two errors and three wild pitches to the first two batters of the inning to take a 3-2 lead ending Brewer's afternoon. Bautista came on and got out of the inning stranding two more runners on base for the Hoosiers.
The Cardinals battled back in the top of the sixth inning as Brandon Estep (Selma, Ind./Wapahani), Godfrey and Billy Wellman (Portland, Ind./Jay County) posted three straight singles. Issler tied the game as he lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Estep making it a 3-3 contest.
Ball State retook the lead in the top of the seventh inning as it took advantage of Indiana miscues. Sophomore T.J. Weir (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) reached base after a wild pitch on a strikeout and moved into scoring position on a single by Cody Campbell (Muncie, Ind./Cowan). After a passed ball, Indiana right-hander Chad Martin uncorked a wild pitch scoring Weir giving the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.
The Hoosiers took their turn at taking advantage of miscues in the bottom of the seventh. Indiana scored two runs in the inning to take a 5-4 lead as it utilized a passed ball and a BSU fielding error surrounding two hits in the back-and-forth contest.
Ball State continued the see-saw affair in the top of the eighth inning as Godfrey welcome reliever Jonny Hoffman abruptly as he lined the first pitch he saw off the left field wall for a standup double. After a ground ball moved him to third base, Franchetti poked a two-out RBI single behind the bag at second base to knot the game at 5-5.
Both teams were held at bay for most of the extra frames. Ball State's best chance came in the top of the 15th inning as Godfrey was hit by a pitch. Wellman reached on a wild pitch that allowed Godfrey to hustle all the way to third base putting runners on the corners with two outs. Issler came within inches of giving the Cardinals the lead as he sent a line drive into the outfield grass, but the Indiana second baseman was able to make the catch to end the threat.
Indiana used its final at-bat due to the impending suspension of the game because of darkness and made noise with two outs in the inning against left-hander Jon Cisna (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township). Chad Clark started the rally reaching on an infield single with two outs before Dustin DeMuth drew a walk.
The Cardinals went to Weir on the mound from his shortstop position and he walked Chris Sukja to load the bases. Cureton ended the game as he lined a 1-0 pitch into right field to score Clark with the game-winning run.
Cisna (0-1) picked up the loss as he allowed one run on one hit in 1.1 innings of work as the Cardinals' fourth pitcher. Walker Stadler (1-0) picked up the victory in relief for Indiana working 2.0 shutout innings as the Hoosiers' sixth pitcher.
Ball State returns to Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it hosts the Miami RedHawks in a three-game series. Weekend play opens Friday with first pitch set for 3 p.m. at Ball Diamond.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Stadler, Walker (1-0)
L: Cisna, Jon (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Godfrey, Sean 1
HR: Franchetti, Kevin 1
RBI: Issler, Tim 2 ; Franchetti, Kevin 2
SH: Wellman, Billy 1
SF: Issler, Tim 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Weir, T.J. 1 ; Estep, Brandon 1 ; Godfrey, Sean 2 ; Franchetti, Kevin 1
SB: Godfrey, Sean 2
CS: Devarie, Elbert 2 ; Weir, T.J. 1
HBP: Godfrey, Sean 1
Batting:
2B: Schwarber, Kyle 1 ; Basil, Michael 1
RBI: Cureton, Justin 1 ; Schwarber, Kyle 1 ; Travis, Sam 1 ; O'Conner, Tim 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cureton, Justin 1 ; Schwarber, Kyle 1 ; Travis, Sam 1 ; Johnson, Micah 1 ; Basil, Michael 1 ; Clark, Chad 1
SB: Schwarber, Kyle 1 ; Dooney, Dillon 1 ; Basil, Michael 1 ; Knoblauch, Trace 1 ; DeMuth, Dustin 1
CS: Schwarber, Kyle 1 ; Travis, Sam 1
HBP: Cureton, Justin 1 ; Dooney, Dillon 1 ; Knoblauch, Trace 1
