Ball State University
8-9
LSU
12-3
No. 6 LSU Wins Rubber Game Against Ball State
March 14, 2016 | Baseball
BATON ROUGE, La. – Host LSU jumped out to an 8-1 lead through four innings and held on for a 10-6 win over the Ball State baseball team Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium. The No. 6 Tigers (12-3) won the final two games of the series after Ball State (8-9) took Friday night's opener by a score of 7-1.
LSU opened the scoring with an unearned run in the bottom of the first only to see Ball State even the score in the third. Junior Alex Call notched a two-out double and fellow junior Caleb Stayton followed with his team-leading 21st RBI, a single to right field.
However, the Tigers broke open the game with three runs in the bottom of the third and four more one inning later. Catcher Michael Papierski accounted for three of those RBIs – an RBI single in the third and a two-run single in the fourth inning. Both of those hits came with two outs.
Ball State tried to fight back with a pair of runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh. Junior Matt Eppers registered a two-run double in the sixth inning. Junior Zach Plesac, freshman CJ Alexander and Eppers all tallied RBIs in the seventh.
The Cardinals' rally fizzled in the final two frames as Ball State went down in order both times.
Six of the nine Ball State starters recorded two hits Sunday, including Eppers, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs.
LSU scored four unearned runs in the series finale.
Next up for Ball State is the team's home opener, set for Friday, March 18 at 3 p.m. The Cardinals welcome Dayton to Ball Diamond for a four-game series, which includes a Saturday doubleheader.
For the most up-to-date information on the Ball State baseball team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateBB and @CoachMaloney.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: John Valek III (4-0)
L: Brockhouse, Colin (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Spaulding, Ryan 1 ; Call, Alex 1 ; Eppers, Matt 2
RBI: Stayton, Caleb 1 ; Plesac, Zach 1 ; Alexander, CJ 1 ; Eppers, Matt 3
SF: Alexander, CJ 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Call, Alex 1 ; Stayton, Caleb 1 ; Rindfleisch, Jarett 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 1 ; Plesac, Zach 1 ; Alexander, CJ 1
SB: Call, Alex 1
CS: Spaulding, Ryan 1
HBP: Stayton, Caleb 1
Batting:
2B: Kramer Robertson 1 ; Jake Fraley 1
HR: Greg Deichmann 1
RBI: Kramer Robertson 1 ; Jake Fraley 1 ; Antoine Duplantis 1 ; Beau Jordan 1 ; Bryce Jordan 1 ; Michael Papierski 3 ; Greg Deichmann 2
SH: Cole Freeman 1
SF: Bryce Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kramer Robertson 3 ; Jake Fraley 2 ; Antoine Duplantis 1 ; Michael Papierski 1 ; Greg Deichmann 1 ; Chris Reid 1 ; Cole Freeman 1
SB: Jake Fraley 1
