Ball State University
30-22, 15-9
Toledo
15-36-1, 10-11
Ball State Clinches MAC West Division Baseball Title
May 16, 2016 | Baseball
TOLEDO, Ohio –For the second time in the last three years, the Ball State baseball team claimed the Mid-American Conference West Division title after a come-from-behind 8-7 win over host Toledo Sunday afternoon at Scott Park.
“This was a great team win today,” Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. “A lot of different guys contributed. We scrapped our way to the MAC West title and the number two seed in the MAC Tournament.”
Ball State (30-22, 15-9 MAC) clinched the division title due to Northern Illinois' (21-29, 14-10) loss at Eastern Michigan today. The Cardinals locked down the tournament's second seed when Miami (23-26, 12-9) lost to Central Michigan. Miami still has one more conference series next weekend, but Ball State will win a tiebreaker if the two teams finish with a 15-9 MAC record because the Cardinals won two of three games from Miami at the end of March.
Sunday's game went to extra innings, as Ball State had to rally from an early 4-0 deficit. Junior Matt Eppers put the Cardinals in front for the first time with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth inning, to give Ball State a 5-4 lead.
Toledo (15-36-1, 10-11) evened the score in the bottom of the fourth. After the two teams exchanged single tallies in the fifth inning, neither team would score again until the 10th inning.
Ball State managed to score two runs in the 10th after Toledo retired the first two batters. Junior Alex Maloney started the rally with a double. Fellow junior Sean Kennedy followed with a double to score Maloney. Two batters later, redshirt freshman Griffin Hulecki singled to left field to bring home Kennedy and give the Cardinals a two-run edge, 8-6.
The Rockets responded with a two-out home run in the bottom of the frame, but Maloney came on to get the final out.
Six Cardinals recorded an RBI in the victory, including Eppers and Kennedy, who each totaled two RBIs. On the mound, junior BJ Butler made his first start of the season and went a season-high eight innings. The righty struck out six batters and only allowed two earned runs.
For Toledo, Matt Hansen homered, scored twice and notched two RBIs. The Rockets had won six consecutive MAC games until today's defeat.
The Cardinals wrap up the regular season this coming week with road non-conference games at Butler (May 17) and Northern Illinois (May 19-20). The MAC Tournament is slated to begin on Wednesday, May 25.
For the most up-to-date information on the Ball State baseball team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateBB and @CoachMaloney.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Current, David (1-0)
L: JACOB, Michael (2-4)
S: Maloney, Alex (1)
Batting:
2B: Maloney, Alex 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 1 ; Baisa, Roman 1
3B: Spaulding, Ryan 1
HR: Tyler, Scott 1 ; Eppers, Matt 1
RBI: Call, Alex 1 ; Spaulding, Ryan 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 2 ; Tyler, Scott 1 ; Hulecki, Griffin 1 ; Eppers, Matt 2
SH: Kennedy, Sean 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Spaulding, Ryan 1 ; Maloney, Alex 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 1 ; Tyler, Scott 1 ; Hulecki, Griffin 1 ; Eppers, Matt 2 ; Baisa, Roman 1
CS: Baisa, Roman 2
HBP: Baisa, Roman 1
PO: Baisa, Roman 1
Batting:
HR: HANSEN,Matt 1
RBI: BOSS, Brad 1 ; TANSEL, Deion 2 ; BOLLINGER, Dalton 1 ; SOKOL, Lucas 1 ; HANSEN,Matt 2
SH: BOSS, Brad 1 ; TANSEL, Deion 1 ; SOKOL, Lucas 1 ; HANSEN,Matt 2
Base Running:
RUNS: FINKLER, Cory 1 ; MONTOYA, AJ 2 ; SOKOL, Lucas 2 ; HANSEN,Matt 2
SB: MONTOYA, AJ 1 ; SOKOL, Lucas 1
CS: TANSEL, Deion 1
