Ball State University
24-14, 11-8
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Western Michigan
20-15, 11-5
Baseball Beats Broncos in Series Opener
April 19, 2024 | Baseball
The Cardinals (24-14, 11-8 Mid-American Conference) rallied for nine runs in the fourth to pull away from the Broncos (20-15, 11-5 MAC), while Ball State starting pitcher Merritt Beeker tossed 6.0 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts to earn his sixth win of the year (6-2).
Ball State started the day's scoring with a Blake Bevis single that plated Michael Hallquist in the top of the first inning. Eight different Cardinals drove in a run and crossed the plate in the fourth frame, with Clay Jacobs hitting a two-run double and Hunter Dobbins scoring twice as part of the big inning.
Dobbins, who finished the day 3-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored, smashed a two-run homer in the sixth for his fifth deep fly in the last five games. Nick Gregory and Max Kalk tacked on an RBI single in the seventh inning and RBI hit by pitch in the ninth, respectively, to make the score 14-0 in Ball State's favor before Western Michigan scored its lone tally in the bottom half of the final frame.
Joining Dobbins with multiple hits were Bevis, Gregory and Hallquist. Bevis and Gregory knocked in two runs each while Hallquist crossed home plate three times.
Will Jacobson struck out five in 3.0 innings of one-run ball to collect his second save of the year, while Western's Brady Miller (3-4) surrendered 12 runs in 5.0 innings to suffer the loss.
"Our boys played well in all facets of the game today," head coach Rich Maloney said. "Strong pitching, good defense and timely hitting. A lot of guys contributed."
Ball State and WMU are scheduled to play the middle game of the set at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Beeker, Merritt (6-2)
L: MILLER, Brady (3-4)
S: Jacobson, Will (2)
Batting:
2B: Gregory, Nick 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1
HR: Dobbins, Hunter 1
RBI: Gregory, Nick 2 ; Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Kalk, Max 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 3 ; Bevis, Blake 2 ; Grego, Dylan 1 ; Kamins, Matthew 1 ; King, Houston 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 2
SF: Grego, Dylan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gregory, Nick 1 ; Hallquist, Michael 3 ; Dobbins, Hunter 3 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Grego, Dylan 1 ; Kamins, Matthew 1 ; King, Houston 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 3
SB: Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1
HBP: Kalk, Max 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Grego, Dylan 1
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Batting:
RBI: HARRITY, Brendan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: OSTRANDER, Connor 1
HBP: SULLIVAN, Cade 1
