Ball State University
38-18
Northern Illinois
20-36
Wild Walkoff! Cards Move To MAC Final!
May 25, 2019 | Baseball
BSU will need to beat Central Michigan twice to win the title
Enter Nick Powell.
The sophomore outfielder made a couple nice plays in right field in extra innings and then became the hero at the plate, scoring Murphy with a single to center to give the Cardinals an 8-7 win over Northern Illinois. Ball State (38-18) advances to the championship round against Central Michigan.
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??: Ball State's @CoachMaloney with his thoughts from today's win. The Chippewas will now face Central Michigan in the MAC title game. #ChirpChirp #MACtion pic.twitter.com/8BV3LL3TZV
— #MACtion (@MACSports) May 25, 2019
Powell had four hits in the regular season, making eight starts, and entered the game in the 9th inning as a pinch hitter. As Nick Floyd and NIU's Kyle Seebach traded zeroes in the extras, Powell's turn in the order came back up and he delivered the game-winner. The run was set up by aggressive baserunning by Murphy, who hit a base hit to right that bounced high and he sped into 2nd base.
With the season on the line, head coach Rich Maloney turned to a pair of senior relievers to keep the tournament run going. Before Floyd through his 4.0 shutout innings to earn the win, Ball State got 10 outs from Brendan Burns. Both seniors took control of this game, and also allowed Maloney to save some fresh arms for Central Michigan.
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??: Ball State's @floyd_nick7 on helping his team pick up the victory in today's elimination game vs. Northern Illinois. #ChirpChirp #MACtion pic.twitter.com/5rsnwv36oP
— #MACtion (@MACSports) May 25, 2019
John Ricotta and Aaron Simpson each homered to provide the majority of Ball State's offense. Ricotta hit a towering 3-run shot in the 1st inning and Simpson's home run came late in the game when Northern was leading 6-5. Ricotta finished the day 3-for-4 with a pair of walks and Ross Messina hit two doubles.
#WEIRDBASEBALL
The back-and-forth game, which lasted 4 hours, 25 minutes and featured 35 players, ended Northern Illinois's season at 20-36. It featured 392 pitches by nine different pitchers and at one point had three NIU pitchers face a single BSU batter in the 9th inning.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
This marks the seventh time Ball State has advanced to the league tournament final, the first time since 2015. BSU won the tournament in 2006.
Ball State will play Central Michigan, the tournament's top seed Saturday night. A Ball State win would set up a winner-take-all-game Sunday afternoon.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Floyd, Nick (8-0)
L: SEEBACH (2-3)
Batting:
2B: JOYCE 1 ; SZCZASNY 1 ; MUTTER 1
RBI: JOYCE 1 ; SZCZASNY 1 ; LONTEEN 2 ; DUNHAM 1 ; DROBUSHEVICH 2
SH: JOYCE 1 ; SMITH 1 ; LARSON 1
SF: DROBUSHEVICH 1
Base Running:
RUNS: JOYCE 2 ; SZCZASNY 3 ; MUTTER 2
SB: SZCZASNY 1 ; LONTEEN 1
HBP: MCKERMITT 1
Batting:
2B: Baker, William 1 ; Messina, Ross 2 ; Murphy, Mack 1
HR: Simpson, Aaron 1 ; Ricotta, John 1
RBI: Simpson, Aaron 2 ; Ricotta, John 3 ; Sebby, Chase 1 ; Hulecki, Griffin 1 ; Powell, Nick 1
SH: Conant, Justin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simpson, Aaron 1 ; Baker, William 1 ; Messina, Ross 3 ; Ricotta, John 1 ; Murphy, Mack 1 ; Powell, Noah 1
CS: Jameson, Drey 1
HBP: Baker, William 1 ; Sebby, Chase 1 ; Powell, Noah 1
