Wednesday, May 23
Avon, Ohio
12:30 p.m.
Ball State University
32-24
6
vs
2
Eastern Michigan
22-33
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Eastern Michigan
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
2
6
1
Ball State
0
0
3
3
0
0
0
0
X
6
10
2
Cardinals Cruise to 6-2 Win On First Day of MAC Tournament
May 23, 2018 | Baseball
AVON, Ohio – The Ball State baseball team scored three runs in both the third and fourth innings, and never looked back on its way to a 6-2 win over Eastern Michigan in the first game of the 2018 Mid-American Conference Tournament Wednesday afternoon at Sprenger Stadium.
Ball State (32-24), the No. 3 seed, advances to play No. 2 Miami Thursday evening at 6 p.m. Eastern Michigan (22-33), the No. 6 seed, falls into the losers bracket and will face either No. 4 Central Michigan or No. 5 Toledo in an elimination game Thursday morning at 10 a.m.
"The guys did a lot of little things well," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "We got safety squeezes down. We got bunts down. We took extra bases. We stole bases. We got some timely hits. And John Baker and Mike Pachmayer were both outstanding on the mound."
The Cardinals opened the scoring thanks to a safety squeeze bunt from catcher Chase Sebby in the top of the third. His bunt easily scored junior William Baker, who led off the inning with a walk. Senior Jeff Riedel followed with a grounder that bounced over the glove of Eastern Michigan's Zachary Owings along the third base line, allowing sophomore Noah Powell to score from second base. Junior Griffin Hulecki capped the inning with an RBI single to make the score 3-0.
A pair of triples in the fourth highlighted another three-run frame to push the lead to 6-0. Senior Justin Kirkpatrick began the inning with a three-bagger to the left center field gap. After Kirkpatrick scored on a wild pitch, Powell tripled over the right fielder's head. Sebby added an RBI single before Hulecki executed another safety squeeze to perfection to score Sebby.
The six runs were plenty for Ball State starting pitcher John Baker. The righty didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning and he finished with a stat line of 7.1 innings pitched, four hits, one earned run allowed and seven strikeouts. Baker now has 118 strikeouts for the season, which ranks third on the Ball State single season chart behind Bryan Bullington's 139 strikeouts in 2002 and 119 strikeouts in 2001.
EMU starting pitcher Justin McMurtrey had career game when he faced the Cardinals on April 6, going 8.0 innings, striking out seven batters and holding Ball State without a run. Today, Ball State chased McMurtrey in the fourth inning after giving up eight hits and being charged with all six runs.
Eight of the nine Cardinals in the starting lineup tallied at least one hit. Powell had two hits and scored twice. Riedel notched a hit, two walks and three stolen bases. Sebby and Hulecki combined for four RBIs.
This was just the third time these two teams have met in the MAC Tournament. The Eagles now hold a 2-1 lead in the tournament series.
For the most up-to-date information on the Ball State baseball team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateBB and @CoachMaloney.
Ball State (32-24), the No. 3 seed, advances to play No. 2 Miami Thursday evening at 6 p.m. Eastern Michigan (22-33), the No. 6 seed, falls into the losers bracket and will face either No. 4 Central Michigan or No. 5 Toledo in an elimination game Thursday morning at 10 a.m.
"The guys did a lot of little things well," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "We got safety squeezes down. We got bunts down. We took extra bases. We stole bases. We got some timely hits. And John Baker and Mike Pachmayer were both outstanding on the mound."
The Cardinals opened the scoring thanks to a safety squeeze bunt from catcher Chase Sebby in the top of the third. His bunt easily scored junior William Baker, who led off the inning with a walk. Senior Jeff Riedel followed with a grounder that bounced over the glove of Eastern Michigan's Zachary Owings along the third base line, allowing sophomore Noah Powell to score from second base. Junior Griffin Hulecki capped the inning with an RBI single to make the score 3-0.
A pair of triples in the fourth highlighted another three-run frame to push the lead to 6-0. Senior Justin Kirkpatrick began the inning with a three-bagger to the left center field gap. After Kirkpatrick scored on a wild pitch, Powell tripled over the right fielder's head. Sebby added an RBI single before Hulecki executed another safety squeeze to perfection to score Sebby.
The six runs were plenty for Ball State starting pitcher John Baker. The righty didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning and he finished with a stat line of 7.1 innings pitched, four hits, one earned run allowed and seven strikeouts. Baker now has 118 strikeouts for the season, which ranks third on the Ball State single season chart behind Bryan Bullington's 139 strikeouts in 2002 and 119 strikeouts in 2001.
EMU starting pitcher Justin McMurtrey had career game when he faced the Cardinals on April 6, going 8.0 innings, striking out seven batters and holding Ball State without a run. Today, Ball State chased McMurtrey in the fourth inning after giving up eight hits and being charged with all six runs.
Eight of the nine Cardinals in the starting lineup tallied at least one hit. Powell had two hits and scored twice. Riedel notched a hit, two walks and three stolen bases. Sebby and Hulecki combined for four RBIs.
This was just the third time these two teams have met in the MAC Tournament. The Eagles now hold a 2-1 lead in the tournament series.
For the most up-to-date information on the Ball State baseball team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateBB and @CoachMaloney.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Baker, John (5-5)
L: MCMURTREY, Justin (5-7)
Batting:
RBI: JONES, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: JONES, Nate 1 ; SCHUEMANN, Max 1
SB: JONES, Nate 1
PO: KAUFFMAN, Jared 1
Batting:
2B: Brockhouse, Colin 1
3B: Powell, Noah 1 ; Kirkpatrick, Justin 1
RBI: Sebby, Chase 2 ; Hulecki, Griffin 2
SH: Powell, Noah 1 ; Sebby, Chase 1 ; Hulecki, Griffin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Powell, Noah 2 ; Sebby, Chase 1 ; Riedel, Jeff 1 ; Kirkpatrick, Justin 1 ; Baker, William 1
SB: Riedel, Jeff 3
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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