Friday, May 24
Avon, Ohio
6 p.m.
Ball State University
37-18
2
vs
8
Central Michigan
45-12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Ball State
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
5
Central Michigan
0
0
1
0
0
0
7
0
X
8
7
2
7th Inning Rally Gives Ball State A Busy Saturday
May 24, 2019 | Baseball
Cardinals will play NIU for chance at CMU rematch
AVON, Ohio - It was a classic playoff baseball showdown. The two best teams in the Mid-American Conference, with two all-league pitchers starting in a game that began at 9:10 p.m. A trip to the league championship game on the line. Ball State led most of the night before Central Michigan scored seven times in the 7th inning to win 8-2.
No. 2 seed Ball State (37-18) will play Northern Illinois Saturday for a shot at a rematch with CMU Saturday night. The Cardinals need to win twice Saturday to set up a winner-take-all game Sunday against Central.Â
"We battled hard but gave up too many freebies," head coach Rich Maloney said. "We are statistically the best fielding team in the MAC and just didn't play like it tonight."
Behind first team All-MAC starter John Baker, the Cards took a 2-0 lead early and led into the 7th inning before a handful of errors led to a long rally for top seed CMU. Twelve batters hit in the inning that featured six hits and three errors. Baker ended the night allowing no earned runs and striking out seven over 6+ innings.
The Cards struck early when Central ace Cam Brown walked the first two batters of the game and John Ricotta ripped an RBI single to score Aaron Simpson. Moments later, on a throwing error by Central, Ross Messina made a heads-up running play and scored to give the Cards a 2-0 lead. It was 2-1 in the 3rd inning until the late rally.
Wild game featured 10 hits and seven errors in total and only one extra-base hit. Reliever Garett Simmons retired four of the five batters he faced and struck out the side in the 8th inning.
Fans can follow Saturday's action on ESPN+ or listen to the audio call. Ball State baseball can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @BallStateBB.
No. 2 seed Ball State (37-18) will play Northern Illinois Saturday for a shot at a rematch with CMU Saturday night. The Cardinals need to win twice Saturday to set up a winner-take-all game Sunday against Central.Â
"We battled hard but gave up too many freebies," head coach Rich Maloney said. "We are statistically the best fielding team in the MAC and just didn't play like it tonight."
Behind first team All-MAC starter John Baker, the Cards took a 2-0 lead early and led into the 7th inning before a handful of errors led to a long rally for top seed CMU. Twelve batters hit in the inning that featured six hits and three errors. Baker ended the night allowing no earned runs and striking out seven over 6+ innings.
The Cards struck early when Central ace Cam Brown walked the first two batters of the game and John Ricotta ripped an RBI single to score Aaron Simpson. Moments later, on a throwing error by Central, Ross Messina made a heads-up running play and scored to give the Cards a 2-0 lead. It was 2-1 in the 3rd inning until the late rally.
Wild game featured 10 hits and seven errors in total and only one extra-base hit. Reliever Garett Simmons retired four of the five batters he faced and struck out the side in the 8th inning.
Fans can follow Saturday's action on ESPN+ or listen to the audio call. Ball State baseball can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @BallStateBB.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: BROWN, C. (10-0)
L: Baker, John (7-2)
Batting:
RBI: Ricotta, John 1
SH: Powell, Noah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simpson, Aaron 1 ; Messina, Ross 1
HBP: Bolton, Erek 1
Batting:
2B: HEEKE, Z. 1
RBI: HEEKE, Z. 1 ; GILLES, Z. 1 ; LOCKWOOD-POW 1 ; SULLIVAN, J. 1 ; COLE, D. 1 ; KRATT, E. 1
SH: GILLES, Z. 1 ; COLE, D. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HEEKE, Z. 1 ; GILLES, Z. 1 ; SULLIVAN, J. 1 ; NAVARRA, G. 1 ; COLE, D. 2 ; KRATT, E. 1 ; ROLLIN, C. 1
SB: SULLIVAN, J. 1
CS: GILLES, Z. 1 ; KRATT, E. 1
HBP: WARREN, Z. 1 ; COLE, D. 1 ; KRATT, E. 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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LHP
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