Ball State University
32-20-1, 0
Kent State
26-25, 0
Cardinals Cruise to Win at Kent State
May 17, 2024 | Baseball
Clinch a Top 3 Seed in MAC Tourney
The Cardinals (32-20-1, 18-11 Mid-American Conference) plated single tallies in each of the first three innings against the Golden Flashes (26-25, 16-13 MAC), and that was all they'd need as the trio of Keegan Johnson, Nate Blain and Owen Quinn combined to limit the hosts to one run on two hits.
With the win, Ball State clinched at least a No. 3 seed in next week's conference tournament with the possibility of getting a No. 2 seed if the Cardinals can win on Sunday or Western Michigan/Toledo lose one of their remaining games.
Nick Gregory led off the game with a triple before scoring on a Hunter Dobbins grounder. Blake Bevis followed that up with a solo home run to leadoff the second inning and give the Cardinals a 2-0 edge. In the third, Clay Jacobs singled, stole second and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
After Kent State scored in the bottom half of the third to cut the Ball State lead to 3-1, the visitors responded with sac flies by Jacobs in the fifth and Michael Hallquist in the sixth for a 5-1 advantage.
Dobbins and Hallquist went back-to-back in the eighth and the Cardinals got RBI singles from Bevis, Jacobs and Decker Scheffler and an RBI walk by Hallquist in the ninth for the day's final scoring.
Hallquist went 2-for-3 with three RBI including his 20th homer of the year, while nine different Cardinals collected hits and nine scored runs on the day in the balanced offensive attack.
Johnson (8-2) struck out six in 5.0 innings of one-run ball to earn the win before Blain (three strikeouts in 3.0 shutout innings) and Quinn (one strikeout in 1.0 shutout frame) closed the game out from there.
Kent State starter Benny Roebuck (1-2) gave up four runs in 4.1 innings to suffer the loss.
"Our boys played a solid game in all facets: excellent pitching, solid defense and timely hitting," head coach Rich Maloney said.
The Cardinals and Golden Flashes are set to conclude the regular season with a game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Johnson, Keegan (8-2)
L: Roebuck,Benny (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Scheffler, Decker 1 ; King, Houston 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1
3B: Gregory, Nick 1 ; Grego, Dylan 1
HR: Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1
RBI: Scheffler, Decker 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 2 ; Hallquist, Michael 3 ; Bevis, Blake 2 ; Jacobs, Clay 2
SF: Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gregory, Nick 1 ; Scheffler, Decker 2 ; Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Miller, Grant 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Kamins, Matthew 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 2
SB: Jacobs, Clay 1
CS: Hallquist, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Jackson,Kyle 1
RBI: Jackson,Kyle 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Johnson,Josh 1
HBP: Williams,Brody 1 ; Reese,Ripken 1
