Saturday, April 13
Muncie, Ind.
11 AM
Ball State University
21-13, 8-8
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Akron
6-26, 1-12
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Ball State
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Photo by: Nick Lawler/Ball State Athletics
Cards Cruise to Doubleheader Sweep
April 13, 2024 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State baseball team rode impressive offensive displays by Hunter Dobbins, Decker Scheffler and Matthew Kamins and strong pitching performances from Merritt Beeker, Nate Blain and Keegan Johnson for a Saturday sweep of Akron at Ball Diamond.
The Cardinals (22-13, 9-8 Mid-American Conference) took the opener 5-1 before handling the Zips (6-27, 1-13 MAC) by a score of 17-7 in the second contest. Dobbins put together a 5-for-6 day at the plate with three home runs, a double and five RBI while starting both games behind the dish.
"Our boys battled all day long to earn the sweep," head coach Rich Maloney said. "Great team effort! We got our bats going in Game Two which was very encouraging."
Game 1: Ball State 5, Akron 1
Nick Gregory plated Dylan Grego on a single to right field in the third inning before Nick Husovsky scored Blake Bevis on an RBI safety in the bottom of the fourth to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. After Akron hit a solo home run in the sixth, Ball State responded with a two-run homer off the bat of Dobbins in the seventh inning and an RBI single from Houston King in the eighth to give more than enough production for the duo of Beeker and Blain to work with.
Beeker (5-2) picked up the win by striking out eight and allowing one run in 5.1 innings of work. Blain came on in relief and fired 3.2 innings of shutout baseball while striking out three Zips and surrendering only two hits for his second save of the year.
Eight different Cardinals collected a hit in Game One with Dobbins going 2-for-3 with the pair of RBI.
Akron starter Jared Schaeffer fell to 0-6 after surrendering four runs in 7.0 innings pitched.
Game 2: Ball State 17 Akron 7
The Cardinals scored early and often, highlighted by a 7-run third inning featuring big blasts by Kamins and Scheffler, to cruise to a doubleheader sweep.
Bevis hit into a grounder to third that allowed Scheffler to score, and Dylan Grego and Dobbins followed with RBI doubles to put Ball State ahead 3-0 after the first. Scheffler knocked in Houston King with a single in the second inning to increase the edge.
The Zips responded with an RBI grounder in their half of the third, but the Cardinals exploded in the bottom half compliments of a Kamins grand slam and Scheffler three-run homer to go ahead 11-1. Dobbins clobbered solo shots in the fourth and sixth, while Nick Gregory, Michael Hallquist and Bevis each hit solo homers in the seventh for a 16-4 Cardinals advantage.
Korbin Griffin plated Corey Miley on an RBI single for the day's final scoring.
Ball State starting pitcher Keegan Johnson toughed out 6.0 innings of four-run ball (three earned) and struck out six to improve to 5-0 for the year. Akron's Spencer Atkins (0-6) gave up three runs and got three outs to be hit with the loss.
Hallquist went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, and Dobbins batted 3-for-3 with three RBI on three extra-base hits including his second multi-homer game of 2024. Scheffler and Kamins drove in four runs each to help the Cardinals clinch the series win.
Ball State and Akron are scheduled to wrap up the three-game set at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Cardinals (22-13, 9-8 Mid-American Conference) took the opener 5-1 before handling the Zips (6-27, 1-13 MAC) by a score of 17-7 in the second contest. Dobbins put together a 5-for-6 day at the plate with three home runs, a double and five RBI while starting both games behind the dish.
"Our boys battled all day long to earn the sweep," head coach Rich Maloney said. "Great team effort! We got our bats going in Game Two which was very encouraging."
Game 1: Ball State 5, Akron 1
Nick Gregory plated Dylan Grego on a single to right field in the third inning before Nick Husovsky scored Blake Bevis on an RBI safety in the bottom of the fourth to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. After Akron hit a solo home run in the sixth, Ball State responded with a two-run homer off the bat of Dobbins in the seventh inning and an RBI single from Houston King in the eighth to give more than enough production for the duo of Beeker and Blain to work with.
Beeker (5-2) picked up the win by striking out eight and allowing one run in 5.1 innings of work. Blain came on in relief and fired 3.2 innings of shutout baseball while striking out three Zips and surrendering only two hits for his second save of the year.
Eight different Cardinals collected a hit in Game One with Dobbins going 2-for-3 with the pair of RBI.
Akron starter Jared Schaeffer fell to 0-6 after surrendering four runs in 7.0 innings pitched.
Game 2: Ball State 17 Akron 7
The Cardinals scored early and often, highlighted by a 7-run third inning featuring big blasts by Kamins and Scheffler, to cruise to a doubleheader sweep.
Bevis hit into a grounder to third that allowed Scheffler to score, and Dylan Grego and Dobbins followed with RBI doubles to put Ball State ahead 3-0 after the first. Scheffler knocked in Houston King with a single in the second inning to increase the edge.
The Zips responded with an RBI grounder in their half of the third, but the Cardinals exploded in the bottom half compliments of a Kamins grand slam and Scheffler three-run homer to go ahead 11-1. Dobbins clobbered solo shots in the fourth and sixth, while Nick Gregory, Michael Hallquist and Bevis each hit solo homers in the seventh for a 16-4 Cardinals advantage.
Korbin Griffin plated Corey Miley on an RBI single for the day's final scoring.
Ball State starting pitcher Keegan Johnson toughed out 6.0 innings of four-run ball (three earned) and struck out six to improve to 5-0 for the year. Akron's Spencer Atkins (0-6) gave up three runs and got three outs to be hit with the loss.
Hallquist went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, and Dobbins batted 3-for-3 with three RBI on three extra-base hits including his second multi-homer game of 2024. Scheffler and Kamins drove in four runs each to help the Cardinals clinch the series win.
Ball State and Akron are scheduled to wrap up the three-game set at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Beeker, Merritt (5-2)
L: J. Schaeffer (0-6)
S: Blain, Nate (2)
Batting:
HR: M. Bowman 1
RBI: M. Bowman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: M. Bowman 1
CS: N. Sackett 1
HBP: E. Bottone 1 ; J. Poist 1
PO: C. Schebler 1
Batting:
2B: Bevis, Blake 1
HR: Dobbins, Hunter 1
RBI: Gregory, Nick 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; King, Houston 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Kamins, Matthew 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Grego, Dylan 1
SB: Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Kamins, Matthew 1 ; Grego, Dylan 1
CS: Scheffler, Decker 1
Game Leaders
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RBI
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4
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H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
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