Ball State University Athletics
Baseball Rounds Out Dominican Competition With A Win
November 29, 2015 | Baseball
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - - With an exciting 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals affiliate academy, the Ball State baseball team completed competition in the Dominican Republic. Following the game, the team attended the professional game between Tigres del Licey and Leones del Escogido, which included some players from the Cardinals matchup yesterday against the Escogido Reserve Squad.
In the top of the fifth inning against the Royals Academy, freshman CJ Alexander put the Cardinals on the board after he rounded the bases on a wild pitch and a stolen base after marking a single to lead off the inning. Alexander was then directly followed across home plate by centerfielder Matt Eppers, who originally walked to make it on base.
The action continued when junior Alex Call stepped up to the plate with Roman Baisa and Sean Kennedy on first and second, respectively. Call launched a homer past left field to drive in the final three runs of the Cardinals offensive strike and upped the score to a 5-1 lead.
Later in the game, the Royals Academy scored in the seventh and eighth innings to narrow the score to 5-4. Pitchers Matt Haro, Trevor Henderson, TJ Harmon and Luke Whitfield only allowed a combined six hits throughout the matchup, while Whitfield allowed none to secure the intense ninth inning to win the game.
Player Blog Post: Colin Brockhouse, Sophomore/RHP/3B/Fort Wayne, Ind. (Northrop)
Wow, what a week it has been! To start off, we arrived on Wednesday where we helped feed a sugarcane village. Just to get the experience and the view the houses these Dominican families live in is crazy! As a team, we delivered chicken to these families, and it did nothing besides put a smile on their faces. That was the best part of the evening; to see all the smiles we put on the kids and families' faces.
We continued our week by playing a split squad against the Mets. With some tough competition, we tied in one game 2-2 and won the other 2-0. The opportunity to play these talented kids is not only good competition for us, but we get to see how much passion and enthusiasm these kids play with. On Friday, we played at a professional Dominican stadium where we played the Escogido team. It was a great chance to see how our team would pan out playing a professional team, and we excelled with a 9-0 shutout victory. This morning, we had a battle between the Royals, where we ended up victorious pulling through with a 5-4 win.
In a wrap up, not only did us Cardinals experience some great talent on the field, but we got the chance to help out kids and their families. That was the most important thing for the team and I. We got to play with kids and give them company, which they don't get a lot. You don't really know what you have, or how good you have it until you experience something inferior. Overall, this trip has been a wonderful experience as we got to show our talent and give to the community. This trip will be one I will never forget, and my memories will be talked about forever.
Looking Ahead…
Sunday will be the Cardinals final day in the Dominican Republic. The team will host a youth baseball clinic and lunch in the morning, prior to departing for the airport to make the trip back to Muncie, Ind.
This week's in-depth Ball State baseball content will include daily postgame recaps, blog posts from Coach Maloney and various players, photo galleries courtesy of Anthony Marquez, and video highlights from Ball State SportsLink's Torey Fox.
Check back daily to get the inside scoop on the team's adventures by following activity on BallStateSports.com as well as by following @CoachMaloney and @BallStateBB on Twitter.
