Friday, February 16
Charleston, S.C.
1 PM
Ball State University
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Cardinals Open Baseball Season With 8-4 Win Over Lehigh
February 16, 2024 | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Playing as part of the Swig & Swine College Classic in Charleston, S.C., the Ball State baseball team beat Lehigh 8-4 on Friday afternoon. The Cardinals jumped on top early with back-to-back, first-inning home runs from Matthew Gonzalez and Hunter Dobbins, and never trailed during their season opener at Shipyard Park.
While it was snowing in Muncie, the Cardinals collected three home runs among their 10 hits under partly cloudy skies and 60-degree temperatures. Starting pitcher Jacob Hartlaub scattered five hits over four innings to pace a Ball State pitching performance that featured 11 strikeouts. Hartlaub allowed just two runs and Nate Blain allowed two on five hits over 3.2 innings. Tanner Knapp slammed the door on the Mountain Hawks, facing just six hitters with four strikeouts, a walk and one hit.
Ball State led 3-0 after one inning on the strength of Gonzalez' two-run homer, followed by one from Dobbins. Gonzalez, a junior transfer from Florida International playing his first game in a Cardinals' uniform, batted 3-of-5 on the day as Ball State's DH ahead of Dobbins, the Cards' decorated catcher and cleanup batter.
Lehigh got on the board with a pair of runs in the second inning but the Cardinals pushed across a pair of unearned runs in the fourth and went up 6-2 on Dobbins' sacrifice fly to center field in the fifth inning to score Decker Scheffler. Leading 6-4 in the eighth, shortstop Dylan Grego capped the scoring with a two-run homer for Ball State.
Knapp came on to pitch with two outs in the bottom half of the eighth and, after allowing a walk to his first batter, he struck out four of the next five hitters he faced. He garnered the first save of his career with three strikeouts sandwiched around a single in the ninth.
The Cardinals continue play in the six-team Swig & Swine Classic on Saturday, with a doubleheader scheduled against No. 20-ranked Iowa, at noon, and Merrimack at 4:00 p.m. Ball State meets Michigan State at 9:00 a.m. in their tournament finale on Sunday.
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While it was snowing in Muncie, the Cardinals collected three home runs among their 10 hits under partly cloudy skies and 60-degree temperatures. Starting pitcher Jacob Hartlaub scattered five hits over four innings to pace a Ball State pitching performance that featured 11 strikeouts. Hartlaub allowed just two runs and Nate Blain allowed two on five hits over 3.2 innings. Tanner Knapp slammed the door on the Mountain Hawks, facing just six hitters with four strikeouts, a walk and one hit.
Ball State led 3-0 after one inning on the strength of Gonzalez' two-run homer, followed by one from Dobbins. Gonzalez, a junior transfer from Florida International playing his first game in a Cardinals' uniform, batted 3-of-5 on the day as Ball State's DH ahead of Dobbins, the Cards' decorated catcher and cleanup batter.
Lehigh got on the board with a pair of runs in the second inning but the Cardinals pushed across a pair of unearned runs in the fourth and went up 6-2 on Dobbins' sacrifice fly to center field in the fifth inning to score Decker Scheffler. Leading 6-4 in the eighth, shortstop Dylan Grego capped the scoring with a two-run homer for Ball State.
Knapp came on to pitch with two outs in the bottom half of the eighth and, after allowing a walk to his first batter, he struck out four of the next five hitters he faced. He garnered the first save of his career with three strikeouts sandwiched around a single in the ninth.
The Cardinals continue play in the six-team Swig & Swine Classic on Saturday, with a doubleheader scheduled against No. 20-ranked Iowa, at noon, and Merrimack at 4:00 p.m. Ball State meets Michigan State at 9:00 a.m. in their tournament finale on Sunday.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Blain, Nate (1-0)
L: Bouchard, Alex (0-1)
S: Knapp, Tanner (1)
Batting:
2B: Hallquist, Michael 1
HR: Gonzalez, Matthew 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Grego, Dylan 1
RBI: Gonzalez, Matthew 2 ; Dobbins, Hunter 2 ; Grego, Dylan 2
SF: Dobbins, Hunter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Scheffler, Decker 2 ; Gonzalez, Matthew 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Hallquist, Michael 2 ; Grego, Dylan 1 ; Gregory, Nick 1
CS: King, Houston 1
Batting:
2B: Cochran, Ryan 1 ; Young, Tyler 1 ; Butler, Justin 1
HR: Butler, Justin 1
RBI: Young, Tyler 1 ; Butler, Justin 2 ; Walewander, Owen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kohl, Andrew 1 ; Young, Tyler 1 ; Butler, Justin 2
SB: Whitlinger, Jake 1 ; Kohl, Andrew 1
HBP: Cochran, Ryan 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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