Ball State University
16-12, 3-2
Ohio
11-15, 2-3
Ball State Survives Elements and Ohio to Earn 17-14 Win
April 02, 2016 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State baseball team trailed Ohio 13-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, but fought back to tally a wild 17-14 win Saturday afternoon at Ball Diamond. The two teams will play the rubber game of the three-game set tomorrow afternoon.
Mother Nature made life difficult for the fielders and pitchers all afternoon. Steady wind with gusts approaching 40 and 50 miles per hour blowing from left to right field, along with intermittent snow and rain squalls, wreaked havoc the entire game.
Ohio (11-15, 2-3 MAC) seemed to blow the game open with nine runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to take a 13-4 lead.
However, the Cardinals (16-12, 3-2) got right back in the game thanks to a five run sixth inning. Junior Zach Plesac led off with his first home run of the season, a long shot over the center field fence to make the score, 13-6. Later in the inning, junior Alex Call's triple to the left center gap plated two more runs to cut the deficit to five runs, 13-8. Junior Caleb Stayton capped the inning with a solo home run to bring Ball State within three runs, 13-10.
Ball State then took the lead with four runs in the seventh. With one out, junior Scott Tyler singled through the right side to score Plesac. Following a Kennedy double, Call lasered a ball over the right field fence for a three-run home run to put the Cardinals in front, 14-13.
Ohio quickly responded with a run in the top of the eighth. Mitch Longo's two-out grounder up the middle got through the infield to score Nate Squires. A walk then loaded the bases for the Bobcats, but Ball State pitcher BJ Butler worked out of the jam by getting Ty Black to line out to second base.
The Cardinals, who scored in every inning except the second, utilized some small ball to plate three more runs in the eighth. Junior Alex Maloney opened with a sharp single to right field. After moving to second on a sacrifice, Plesac put runners on the corners with an infield single to shortstop. The next two batters walked to push across the go-ahead run. A wild pitch allowed Plesac to score a second run. Junior Sean Kennedy gave Ball State a third insurance run with an RBI groundout.
Butler (1-0) notched his first win of the season thanks to limiting the Bobcats to just a single in the top of the ninth inning. Ball State's bullpen only gave up one run the final four innings.
Call was a single away from the cycle. The right fielder went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three-run home run. He finished with five RBIs and four runs scored and is now batting .421 this season. Kennedy scored three times while three other Cardinals recorded a pair of RBIs.
Tony Giannini led Ohio with three hits and three RBIs.
Sunday's series finale is set to begin at 1 p.m.
For the most up-to-date information on the Ball State baseball team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateBB and @CoachMaloney.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Butler, BJ (1-0)
L: Klein, Michael (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Longo, Mitch 1 ; Gaertner, Cody 1 ; Giannini, Tony 1
HR: Adryan, John 1 ; Vakuda, Mateus 1
RBI: Longo, Mitch 1 ; De Jesus, Manny 1 ; Black, Ty 1 ; Adryan, John 2 ; Gaertner, Cody 2 ; Giannini, Tony 3 ; Vakuda, Mateus 1
SH: Vakuda, Mateus 1
SF: Black, Ty 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Longo, Mitch 2 ; De Jesus, Manny 1 ; Black, Ty 1 ; Adryan, John 2 ; Gaertner, Cody 2 ; Rott, Rudy 1 ; Giannini, Tony 1 ; Squires, Nate 3 ; Vakuda, Mateus 1
HBP: Longo, Mitch 1 ; Gaertner, Cody 1
Batting:
2B: Call, Alex 1 ; Spaulding, Ryan 1 ; Rindfleisch, Jarett 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 2
3B: Call, Alex 1
HR: Call, Alex 1 ; Stayton, Caleb 1 ; Plesac, Zach 1
RBI: Call, Alex 5 ; Spaulding, Ryan 1 ; Stayton, Caleb 2 ; Rindfleisch, Jarett 2 ; Plesac, Zach 1 ; Tyler, Scott 2 ; Kennedy, Sean 1
SH: Eppers, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Call, Alex 4 ; Spaulding, Ryan 1 ; Stayton, Caleb 1 ; Maloney, Alex 1 ; Eppers, Matt 1 ; Plesac, Zach 3 ; Tyler, Scott 2 ; Alexander, CJ 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 3
