Ball State University
13-12, 2-7
Toledo
10-13, 6-3
Johnson's Dominant Start and Miley/Husovsky Homers Lead to Win in Series Finale at Toledo
March 24, 2024 | Baseball
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Ball State baseball team used a season-best performance from starting pitcher Keegan Johnson and home runs by Corey Miley and Nick Husovsky to beat Toledo 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at Scott Park.
The Cardinals (13-12, 2-7 Mid-American Conference) led 3-2 over the Rockets (10-13, 6-3 MAC) entering the ninth inning and added an insurance tally on a Casey Turturici fielder's choice that plated Clay Jacobs. Jacob Hartlaub tossed a scoreless ninth inning for his first save of the year.
Miley hit one out to left field in the second inning for his initial home run as a Cardinal before Husovsky did the same in fifth to give the visitors a 3-0 edge. Blake Bevis scored Decker Scheffler on a single in the third inning for the second run of the game.
Johnson (3-0) collected a season-best 11 strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work, scattering four hits to earn the win. Hartlaub struck out two in 2.0 innings for the save, his first of the year, while Toledo's RJ Shunck (1-3) allowed three runs in 5.0 innings pitched to be hit with the loss.
A total of seven Cardinals rapped out hits for Ball State on the day, and the defense didn't commit an error to pave the way to the series finale triumph.
"I give our boys a lot of credit for staying the course and winning this game," head coach Rich Maloney said. "We have a lot of guys banged up but a great team effort pulled us through. Our starting pitchers had a good week. Hopefully we can build on that."
Ball State returns home to host USI at 3 p.m. on Tuesday before welcoming Ohio for a three-game set starting on Thursday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Johnson, Keegan (3-0)
L: Shunck, RJ (1-3)
S: Hartlaub, Jacob (1)
Batting:
2B: Hallquist, Michael 1
HR: Miley, Corey 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1
RBI: Bevis, Blake 1 ; Miley, Corey 1 ; Turturici, Casey 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1
SH: Turturici, Casey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Scheffler, Decker 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1 ; Miley, Corey 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1
SB: Jacobs, Clay 2
CS: Gregory, Nick 1
HBP: Gregory, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: Mackiewicz, Scott 1 ; White, Brayden 1
RBI: Walton, Luke 1 ; Parker, Wes 1
SF: Walton, Luke 1
Base Running:
RUNS: White, Brayden 1 ; Wright, Trey 1
