Ball State Baseball Blitzes Butler

MUNCIE - The Ball State baseball team took the momentum from a successful #OneBallState Day onto the diamond, beating Butler 12-5 on Tuesday afternoon. Four Cardinals enjoyed multi-RBI games as BSU improved to 9-0 at home.

Ball State (21-11) trailed early before breaking the game open with a 5-spot in the bottom of the 3rd. The inning featured a 2-run double by Chase Sebby and a 2-run single by William Baker. Erek Bolton, who played his best game of the year, had an RBI single in the inning that put the Cardinals ahead 5-1.

Quality pitching from Nick Floyd and Ty Weatherly allowed Ball State to extend the lead to 8-1 before Butler made things interesting. Butler's Harrison Freed hit a grand slam in the 7th inning to pull the visitors within 8-5. Freed drove in all 5 of Butler's runs.

Ball State then pulled away in the late innings, with the big blast a 2-run shot in the 7th by Aaron Simpson.

Baker finished the day 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs and Bolton also drove in 3 runs. Simpson and Sebby each had 2 RBIs. Floyd earned the win, improving to 5-0 on the year. He cruised through the first 2 innings before allowing a run in the 3rd. Weatherly gave 3.2 innings and struck out 7. Kyle Nicolas pitched the 9th inning and struck out the side.

THE CARDINAL STATE
Ball State improved to 9-0 against in-state opponents with this win over Butler. BSU owns a pair of wins over Notre Dame and a 6-0 win over Purdue. The Cards still have IU twice this month and a May date at Purdue.

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WHEELS
Ball State matched a season high with 4 stolen bases, equaling a mark set March 9 vs. Mt. St. Mary's. Baker had a pair of stolen bases while Simpson and Messina each had one.

FEELIN' A BREEZE
While the wind blew out Tuesday, there was also a lot of wind coming off Butler's bats. The Cardinals' pitching staff, which leads the MAC with 288 strikeouts on the year, fanned 18 Butler batters. It was the second-highest number of Ks for the year, just shy of the 20 strikeouts BSU had in a win over Kent State.

The Cardinals, just one game back in the MAC standings, host Eastern Michigan this weekend April 12-14. Fans can follow on Twitter and Instagram at @BallStateBB.

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Team Stats

William Baker

Aaron Simpson

Ross Messina

Erek Bolton

Players Mentioned

William Baker

Erek Bolton

Nick Floyd

Kyle Nicolas

Chase Sebby

Aaron Simpson

Ty Weatherly

Players Mentioned

William Baker

Erek Bolton

Nick Floyd

Kyle Nicolas

Chase Sebby

Aaron Simpson

Ty Weatherly