Ball State University
28-24
Western Carolina
26-25
Cardinals Celebrate Senior Day with 13-6 Win
May 14, 2017 | Baseball
The Cardinals (28-24) led from start to finish thanks to putting up a six-spot in the bottom of the first inning. Ball State batted around in the opening frame with junior Seth Freed providing the big hit, a bases-clearing double to make the score, 5-0.
Sophomore Roman Baisa hit his first collegiate home run in the third inning, a two-run long ball, to give the Cardinals an 8-3 lead.
Western Carolina (26-25) rallied with three runs in the top of the fourth, but that would be as close as the Catamounts would get the rest of the way.
Ball State added three two-out runs in the fifth inning to stretch the lead back to five at 11-6. Senior Caleb Stayton, senior Sean Kennedy, and sophomore Trent Theisen all chipped in with RBI hits in that frame.
Kennedy added his team leading 11th home run in the seventh, a two-run shot over the left field fence, to round out the scoring.
Junior Brendan Burns provided his third straight solid relief outing to earn the victory. The righty pitched the final 5.1 innings and limited WCU to two hits to improve his record to 4-2.
Baisa finished a triple shy of the cycle. He reached base five times, going 3-for-3 with a home run, double, two walks and three RBIs. Freed and Kennedy also piled up three RBIs.
Prior to the game, Ball State honored its eight seniors – BJ Butler, David Current, Matt Eppers, Kennedy, Evan Korson, Alex Maloney, Kevin Marnon and Stayton – with a framed jersey.
Next up for the Ball State baseball team is a non-conference game at Indiana State on Tuesday, May 16. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
For the most up-to-date information on the Ball State baseball team, including schedule updates for this weekend's series, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateBB and @CoachMaloney.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Burns, Brendan (4-2)
L: Tristan Baker (4-3)
Batting:
HR: Matt Smith 1 ; Spencer Holcomb 1
RBI: Bryson Bowman 1 ; Matt Smith 3 ; Spencer Holcomb 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Brett Pope 1 ; Caleb Robinson 1 ; Matt Smith 1 ; Andrew Robinson 1 ; Spencer Holcomb 1 ; Matthew Koehler 1
SB: Matthew Koehler 1
HBP: Spencer Holcomb 1 ; Cameron Blaquiere 1
Batting:
2B: Kennedy, Sean 1 ; Freed, Seth 1 ; Baisa, Roman 1
HR: Kennedy, Sean 1 ; Baisa, Roman 1
RBI: Stayton, Caleb 1 ; Kennedy, Sean 3 ; Riedel, Jeff 1 ; Brockhouse, Colin 1 ; Theisen, Trent 1 ; Freed, Seth 3 ; Baisa, Roman 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Maloney, Alex 1 ; Eppers, Matt 1 ; Stayton, Caleb 2 ; Kennedy, Sean 3 ; Riedel, Jeff 1 ; Brockhouse, Colin 1 ; Freed, Seth 1 ; Bolton, Erek 1 ; Baisa, Roman 2
CS: Baisa, Roman 1
HBP: Bolton, Erek 1
