Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
28-23, 12-13
Northern Illinois
22-31, 10-15
Baseball Suffers Home Loss to Northern Illinois
May 14, 2015 | Baseball
Ball State's baseball team suffered a 7-3 home loss to Northern Illinois Thursday afternoon in the first game of the Mid-American Conference final regular season series.
The Cardinals fell to 28-23 overall and 12-13 in the league, while Northern Illinois improved to 21-31 overall and 10-15 in the MAC. Ball State needs to win one of its final two regular season games to guarantee a spot in the MAC Tournament May 20-24 in Avon, Ohio.
Northern Illinois led 7-0 after five innings before the Cardinals managed two runs in the sixth inning and one in the bottom of the ninth.
Zach Plesac started the contest on the mound and lasted 3.2 innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out four, but suffered the loss and evened his season record at 4-4.
Alex Maloney, Alex Call and Elbert Devarie were each 2-for-4 in the game.
Ball State scored its runs in the sixth after Ryan Spaulding reached first on a fielder's choice and scored on a single by Call. Jarett Rindfleisch grounded out but scored Call to give the Cardinals two runs in the inning.
In the ninth, Rindfleisch singled and advanced to third on a Devarie double. After Brandon Estep walked to load the bases, Sean Kennedy was hit by pitch to score Rindfleisch, but the scoring ended there for the Cardinals and NIU claimed the win.
The two teams will play at 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday at Ball Diamond in the First Merchants Ballpark Complex. Admission is free to all Ball State baseball games.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: NEUMANN (5-6)
L: Plesac, Zach (4-4)
S: FRANKENREIDE (9)
Batting:
2B: SISLER, B. 1
HR: SISLER, B. 1
RBI: SISLER, B. 2 ; BRANDNER, T. 1 ; LETZ, S. 2 ; ZIEGLER, M. 1 ; WOOD, B. 1
SH: WOOD, B. 1
SF: LETZ, S. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: SISLER, B. 2 ; ZUBEK, J. 1 ; BRANDNER, T. 1 ; LETZ, S. 1 ; RUSSELL, C. 1 ; ZIEGLER, M. 1
CS: WOOD, B. 2
HBP: ZUBEK, J. 1
Batting:
2B: Maloney, Alex 1 ; Devarie, Elbert 1
RBI: Call, Alex 1 ; Rindfleisch, Jarett 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Spaulding, Ryan 1 ; Call, Alex 1 ; Rindfleisch, Jarett 1
HBP: Kennedy, Sean 1
