Baseball's Stayton Hits Game Winner over IPFW

Wednesday, May 6

Muncie, Ind.

3:00 PM

Ball State University

27-19

IPFW

25-20

IPFW

Ball State Cardinals

May 07, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ball State Athletics

Ball State's baseball team tallied a 6-5 win behind a ninth inning single by Caleb Stayton that plated Elbert Devarie and gave the Cardinals the victory over IPFW at Ball Diamond in the First Merchants Ballpark Complex.

The Cardinals improved to 27-19 with the victory, while the Mastodons fell to 25-20 on the season. Ball State will return to Mid-American Conference action when it hosts MAC West Division leader Central Michigan Friday through Sunday. Friday's first pitch is set for 3 p.m. and all games are free of admission for all fans.

With the game tied at 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Elbert Devarie reached on a fielder's choice and stole second. With two outs Jarett Rindfleisch singled to left and Devarie advanced to third to set up the Stayton single to right field and win the game for the Cardinals.

David Current earned the win for the Cardinals to improve to 3-1 on the season in a game that saw Ball State use seven pitchers and IPFW using five. Current pitched the final two thirds of the ninth and was the pitcher of record when the Cardinals won the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Ball State and IPFW traded runs in the first two innings to a 2-2 tie after two. IPFW scored one in the fourth and one in the top of the fifth to take a 4-2 lead before the Cardinals tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Each team scored one in the sixth and the game entered the ninth inning deadlocked at 5-5.

Scott Tyler managed a solo home run in the second inning and was 1-for-2 on the day with one run-batted-in and one run scored. Alex Maloney was 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored as the team's leadoff hitter. Stayton ended the day with a 2-for-4 performance and two RBI. Matt Eppers was 2-for-3 on the day with one run scored.