Ball State University
9-8
Purdue Fort Wayne
4-11
Ball State Walks Past Fort Wayne
March 13, 2019 | Baseball
Leadoff homer ignites offense; Cards play DH at home Saturday
The Cardinals (9-8) started fast when Aaron Simpson led off the bottom of the 1st by lifting a ball over the fence. Chase Sebby and Noah Navarro both added a triple and John Ricotta singled to make it 2-0 early.
Wild pitching and walks allowed Ball State to score four more runs in the 2nd inning, and later a 2-run double by William Baker in the 4th making it 10-0. In the bottom of the 7th, Langston Ginder picked up his first collegiate base hit and would score on a single from Ross Messina to make it 11-0.
"We did some things really well. I thought we were patient at the plate," head coach Rich Maloney said. "We took some walks and hit some balls really hard. And, in general, I thought our pitchers did a nice job."
Fort Wayne (4-11) got 6 runs in the 8th inning to make the game seem closer than it was.
Ball State's pitchers threw 5.2 innings before allowing a hit. Maloney called Nick Floyd's start "outstanding." Floyd threw 3.0 innings with three strikeouts and no hits or walks, cruising once through the Fort Wayne lineup in 27 pitches. Ty Weatherly and Andre Orselli each pitched a pair of scoreless innings.
Baker finished the day 2-for-2 with two runs, two walks and two RBIs. Ricotta had three hits and Messina and Noah Navarro each had a pair of RBIs. The Cardinals ended up with 12 hits and 11 walks on the day.
Ball State has a four-game series this weekend against Dayton. The Cardinals make the drive down to Dayton for games on Friday and Sunday and will host a doubleheader against the Flyers on Saturday, with the first game starting at noon.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Floyd, Nick (3-0)
L: Trevor Armstrong (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Dylan Stewart 1
3B: Jacob Dickson 1
RBI: Travis Upp 1 ; Jacob Dickson 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Garrett Mohler 1 ; Aaron Chapman 1 ; Travis Upp 1 ; Robert Young III 1 ; Jacob Dickson 1 ; Trenton Stoner 1
Batting:
2B: Ginder, Langston 1 ; Baker, William 2
3B: Sebby, Chase 1 ; Navarro, Noah 1
HR: Simpson, Aaron 1
RBI: Simpson, Aaron 1 ; Sebby, Chase 1 ; Navarro, Noah 2 ; Messina, Ross 2 ; Baker, William 2
SF: Messina, Ross 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simpson, Aaron 2 ; Sebby, Chase 2 ; Ginder, Langston 1 ; Ricotta, John 1 ; Peltier, Ryan 1 ; Powell, Noah 2 ; Baker, William 2
SB: Sebby, Chase 1
