Baseball Wins 7-4 vs. Akron to Win Weekend Series

Sunday, April 5

Muncie, Ind.

1:00 PM

Ball State University

21-10, 0

Akron

13-16, 0

Akron

Ball State Cardinals

Ball State Baseball Cruises to Exhibition Win

April 05, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ball State Athletics

Alex Call laced a bases clearing double to left field in the bottom of the seventh to lead Ball State to a 7-4 victory over Akron.

The Sunday win allowed the Cardinals to win the series over the Zips and give them three straight Mid-American Conference series sweeps this season.

Ball State improved to 21-10 overall and 7-2 in league play with the victory, while Akron fell to 13-16 overall and 5-4 in the MAC.

Call's double was his first extra base hit in 10 games and knocked in three runs to give the Cardinals the 6-3 advantage and break up a 3-3 ball game.

“When the rally started to get going and the bases started to fill with Cardinals, I was ready to go,” Call said. “I got the first swing right on it and I have not felt that in a long time. I had an average weekend and I have had some bad weekends. I need to keep my confidence and keep it rolling.”

Colin Brockhouse, who hit his first home run of the season on a solo shot in the eighth for a Ball State insurance run, was credited with the pitching win after throwing the final 3.1 innings, allowing only three hits, one run and striking out five.

“I was able to warm up a bit while our guys were hitting,” Brockhouse said. “Coach Maloney put me in from first base and I was ready to go. I have been working on keeping the ball down and I was able to do that today. Practicing with Coach Linklater, we have really stressed some things and I was hitting the zone today and getting ahead of the hitters. In the past, I had been keeping the ball up a bit, but since coming to Ball State I have worked on keeping it down. The home run was exciting, but I had to just turn the page and get out there to pitch that final inning.”

Ball State took an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on the help of a Brockhouse single to right that scored two.

After Akron tied the game at 3-3, the Cardinals led off the seventh inning with a Brandon Estep double off the center field fence. With one out, Matt Eppers singled to put runners on first and third and a Spaulding walk loaded the bases for the Call three-RBI double.

After the big seventh inning offensively, Ball State managed two defensive gems in the eighth inning to keep the momentum in its favor. Zach Plesac made a beautiful diving catch on a quickly sinking line drive in left center field for the first out of the inning. Alex Maloney finished off the Akron eighth with an outstanding play on a high hopping grounder up the middle.

Brockhouse struck out three batters in the ninth to end a one-run inning by the Zips and seal the victory for the Cardinals. In addition, he was 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and one run scored.

Ball State will face Xavier Tuesday in a midweek non-conference game in Cincinnati, Ohio, before returning to MAC action with a weekend series at Kent State Friday through Sunday.