Baseball Drops Series Finale Against Miami, 9-5

MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State baseball team dropped the series finale to Mid-American Conference rival Miami 9-5 Sunday afternoon as the Cardinals were attempting to sweep their first series of the year. The loss drops the Cardinals to 7-2 against the RedHawks over the past three season series.

Ball State (7-21, 3-6 MAC) returns to action Tuesday afternoon as it faces in-state foe Butler in downtown Indianapolis at Victory Field, the Triple-A home of the Indianapolis Indians. Game time is set for 3 p.m. with tickets set at $5.

Miami (16-15, 4-5 MAC) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning against right-hander Jacob Brewer (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph's). Matt Honchel took the first pitch he saw and lined it into the right center field gap for a one-out triple. Bryce Redeker lifted a sacrifice fly into center field to score the game's first run before Brewer struck out Kevin Bower to end the inning.

After Miami took a 3-0 lead with a two-run home run by Marcus Makuch, the Cardinals answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning to make it a 3-2 contest. Sophomore Sean Godfrey (New Albany, Ind./New Albany) led off with a double while junior Blake Beemer (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) double off the wall in right field to put two in scoring position.

Senior third baseman Tim Issler (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) put the Cardinals on the board as he lifted a sacrifice fly to left field and Godfrey beat the throw to the plate. Ball State made it a 3-2 contest as Dominick Catanzarite (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) poked an opposite field single down the left field line to score Beemer.

Miami added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-2 lead before the Cardinals rallied back in the bottom of the sixth inning to chase Miami starter Shawn Marquardt from the game.

Sophomore T.J Weir (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) drew a walk before back-to-back singles from Cody Campbell (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) and Godfrey to load the bases. Beemer made it a 6-4 game as he ripped a single through the right side scoring two runs. Issler pulled the Cardinals within one as he lifted his second sacrifice fly into right field to plate Godfrey.

Miami responded back in the top of the seventh inning. The RedHawks took advantage of a pair of Ball State errors to score three unearned runs to take a 9-5 lead.

Brewer (0-2) picked up the loss as he allowed four runs on four hits in 3.0 innings of work. Junior Miles Moeller (Phoenix, Ariz./Glendale CC) worked 3.2 innings and allowed five runs, only two earned, on six hits as the Cardinals used four pitchers in the loss.

Marquardt tallied the victory for the RedHawks to improve to 4-3 on the year as he went 5.2 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits. Joe Neff and Nathan Williams combined for the final 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Ball State returns to action Tuesday afternoon as it travels to downtown Indianapolis to face in-state foe Butler at Victory Field, the Triple-A home of the Indianapolis Indians. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

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Team Stats

Sean Godfrey

Blake Beemer

Mitch Widau

T.J. Weir

Players Mentioned

Blake Beemer

Jacob Brewer

Cody Campbell

Dominick Catanzarite

Sean Godfrey

Tim Issler

Miles Moeller

Players Mentioned

Blake Beemer

Jacob Brewer

Cody Campbell

Dominick Catanzarite

Sean Godfrey

Tim Issler

Miles Moeller