Ball State University
6-20, 2-5
Miami
15-14, 3-4
Baseball Posts Series-Opening Win Over Miami
April 06, 2012 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State baseball team picked up a back-and-forth 7-6 victory over Mid-American Conference rival Miami Friday afternoon at Ball Diamond in the first of a three-game series. The Cardinals rallied from an early three-run deficit and held the RedHawks off the board in the final three innings to improve to 6-1 over the RedHawks the last seven meetings.
Senior right-hander Cal Bowling (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) improved to 3-2 on the season as he battled through 8.0 innings of work. Bowling allowed six runs on 12 hits while striking out seven batters on 123 pitches. He leads the MAC this season in innings pitched with 58.0, averaging 7.25 innings per start this season. Junior right-hander Chris Marangon (Maple Valley, Wash./Edmunds CC) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to post his second save of the year.
Junior Blake Beemer (Dayton, Ind./Northmont) led the Cardinals offensively as he posted three doubles in the victory. Sophomore shortstop T.J. Weir (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) added a pair of hits while scoring two runs for the Cardinals who posted 11 hits in the victory.
Miami (15-14, 3-4 MAC) opened the scoring quickly in the top of the first inning against Bowling. The RedHawks posted four singles in the first inning, three of which stayed in the infield, to take a 3-0 lead. John Crummy posted a two-run single behind the second base bag for the RedHawks' big hit of the inning.
Ball State (6-20, 2-5 MAC) rallied in the bottom of the third inning against right-hander Mac Thoreson. Freshman Elbert Devarie (Kissimmee, Fla./Gateway) led off the inning with a single and sophomore Mitch Overley (Zionsville, Ind./Brebeuf) reached on fielding error by Ryan Curl. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, senior Mitch Widau (Richmond, Ind./Richmond) put the Cardinals on the board with a sacrifice fly into right field.
Weir kept the inning going as he lined an RBI single into left field to plate Overley. Sophomore Cody Campbell (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) tied the game as he ripped a run-scoring double into the right center field gap to tie the game at 3-3.
Miami retook the lead in the top of the fourth inning at 4-3 before Ball State answered back in the bottom half to tie the game once again. Freshman Brandon Estep (Selma, Ind./Wapahani) lined the first pitch he saw down the left field line for a double. Overley battled in his at-bat before lining an 0-2 pitch into center field for a run-scoring single.
The see-saw affair continued in the top of the fifth inning as Bryce Redeker ripped a solo home run over the left field wall for his fourth of the season to take a 5-4 lead.
Ball State chased Thoreson from the game in the bottom of the fifth inning as it scored three runs to take a 7-5 lead. Beemer posted a run-scoring double while Devarie drove in two runs with a two-out double into a left center field gap.
Miami pulled within one in the sixth inning as Max Andressen and Scott Slappey led off with back-to-back singles. After a sacrifice bunt, Marcus Makuch lifted a sacrifice fly into center field scoring Andressen to make it a 7-6 contest. Bowling struck out Ryan Brenner looking to keep the Cardinals in the lead.
The RedHawks threatened again in the seventh inning as they put runners on first and second with one out. Bowling induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Crummy to thwart the threat and keep the Cardinals in the lead.
Miami had its last chance in the top of the ninth inning against Marangon as he issued a one-out walk to Matt Honchel. Kevin Bower followed with a two-out single that put runners on the corners, but Crummy grounded out to third base to end the game securing the victory.
Ball State and Miami will continue its three-game series Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Ball Diamond with Weir set to make his seventh start of the season for the Cardinals.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bowling, Cal (3-2)
L: THORESON, Mac (3-3)
S: Marangon, Chris (2)
Batting:
2B: WALSH, Dan 1
HR: REDEKER, Bryce 1
RBI: HONCHEL, Matt 1 ; REDEKER, Bryce 1 ; CRUMMY, John 2 ; WALSH, Dan 1 ; MAKUCH, Marcus 1
SH: ANDRESEN, Max 1 ; SLAPPEY, Scott 1 ; WALSH, Dan 1
SF: MAKUCH, Marcus 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BRENNER, Ryan 1 ; HONCHEL, Matt 1 ; REDEKER, Bryce 2 ; ANDRESEN, Max 2
SB: BRENNER, Ryan 1
HBP: REDEKER, Bryce 1
Batting:
2B: Campbell, Cody 1 ; Beemer, Blake 3 ; Estep, Brandon 1 ; Devarie, Elbert 1
RBI: Widau, Mitch 1 ; Weir, T.J. 1 ; Campbell, Cody 1 ; Beemer, Blake 1 ; Devarie, Elbert 2 ; Overley, Mitch 1
SH: Winkle, Wes 1 ; Devarie, Elbert 1
SF: Widau, Mitch 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Weir, T.J. 2 ; Campbell, Cody 1 ; Beemer, Blake 1 ; Estep, Brandon 1 ; Devarie, Elbert 1 ; Overley, Mitch 1
SB: Winkle, Wes 1
