Baseball Wins Home Game 6-2 Over Rutgers

Wednesday, March 18

Muncie, Ind.

3:00 PM

Ball State University

12-7

Rutgers

3-13

Rutgers

Ball State Cardinals

March 18, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ball State Athletics

With the game knotted at 2-2 through seven innings, Ball State's baseball team exploded for four runs in the bottom of the eighth to claim a 6-2 victory over Rutgers Wednesday.

Sean Kennedy opened the late-inning scoring for the Cardinals with a double to left field and then Matt Eppers hit his second triple of the year to score two more and Ball State registered a four-run inning.

Colin Brockhouse pitched the final three innings to earn the win and improve to 1-0 on the season. He allowed only one hit, while striking out two – the first two batters in the ninth.

Ball State got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the bottom of the first on an Alex Call solo home run over the left field fence and a Sean Kennedy single to center field that scored Jarett Rindfleisch.

After limiting Rutgers to two runs through four innings, starting pitcher Trevor Henderson left the game and Devin Wilburn held the Scarlet Knights to one hit in his 1.2 innings pitched.

With the win, Ball State improved to 12-7 on the year, while Rutgers fell to 3-13. It marked the second time this season the Cardinals have defeated a team from the Big Ten Conference, having claimed a victory over nationally ranked Illinois, 2-1, Feb. 28.

Kennedy led the Cardinals with three hits in four at-bats, two runs-batted-in and one run scored. Eppers was 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored in the contest. Rindfleisch and Alex Maloney added two hits apiece for Ball State.

In the first-ever meeting in baseball between Ball State and Rutgers, the win at Ball Diamond in the First Merchants Ballpark Complex improved the Cardinals to 15-2 at home over the last 17 games.

The Cardinals will open Mid-American Conference play Friday through Sunday at Bowling Green in a three-game series with the Falcons. The teams will square off Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at BG's Steller Field.