Friday, May 24
Avon, Ohio
2 PM
Ball State University
34-22-1
4
vs
3
Toledo
27-32
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4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Toledo
0
0
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1
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8
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Ball State
0
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X
4
7
1
Photo by: David Dermer
Gonzalez's Blast and Blain's Pitching Power Cardinals to Win over Rockets
May 24, 2024 | Baseball
AVON, Ohio – The Ball State baseball team got a pinch hit three-run home run by Matthew Gonzalez and 8.0 quality innings from starting pitcher Nate Blain to beat Toledo 4-3 on Friday afternoon at Crushers Stadium in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Cardinals (34-22-1) led 4-2 in the top of the eighth inning when Toledo's JP Wagner singled to left field with the bases loaded, but Clay Jacobs threw out the runner from second at home to preserve a 4-3 edge. Sam Klein came out of the bullpen for Ball State in the ninth to shut down the Rockets (27-32) for his seventh save of the year.
Toledo scored one in the top of the fourth before Hunter Dobbins plated Michael Hallquist on an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to even the score at 1-1. Gonzalez's pinch hit blast in the sixth drove in Dobbins and Jacobs to give the Cardinals a 4-1 edge.
Blain (4-5) struck out five and scattered eight hits over the 8.0 frames to earn the win for Ball State.
Dobbins went 2-for-4 at the plate with the RBI and run scored.
"Great team effort," head coach Rich Maloney said. "Nate Blain was excellent, Clay Jacobs had a great throw to the plate and Matt Gonzalez hit a huge pinch hit three-run homer! Excellent team victory!"
With the win, the No. 3 seed Cardinals join No. 1 seed Bowling Green and No. 2 seed Western Michigan as the final three teams remaining in the tournament.
Ball State will play the Falcons at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in another elimination game.
The Cardinals (34-22-1) led 4-2 in the top of the eighth inning when Toledo's JP Wagner singled to left field with the bases loaded, but Clay Jacobs threw out the runner from second at home to preserve a 4-3 edge. Sam Klein came out of the bullpen for Ball State in the ninth to shut down the Rockets (27-32) for his seventh save of the year.
Toledo scored one in the top of the fourth before Hunter Dobbins plated Michael Hallquist on an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to even the score at 1-1. Gonzalez's pinch hit blast in the sixth drove in Dobbins and Jacobs to give the Cardinals a 4-1 edge.
Blain (4-5) struck out five and scattered eight hits over the 8.0 frames to earn the win for Ball State.
Dobbins went 2-for-4 at the plate with the RBI and run scored.
"Great team effort," head coach Rich Maloney said. "Nate Blain was excellent, Clay Jacobs had a great throw to the plate and Matt Gonzalez hit a huge pinch hit three-run homer! Excellent team victory!"
With the win, the No. 3 seed Cardinals join No. 1 seed Bowling Green and No. 2 seed Western Michigan as the final three teams remaining in the tournament.
Ball State will play the Falcons at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in another elimination game.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Blain, Nate (4-5)
L: MUSIC, Kyle (1-1)
S: Klein, Sam (7)
Batting:
2B: KONCZAK, Caden 1 ; MACKIEWICZ, Scott 1
RBI: WRIGHT, Trey 2 ; WAGNER, JP 1
Base Running:
RUNS: KONCZAK, Caden 1 ; PIKE, Garret 1 ; WALTON, Luke 1
Batting:
2B: Hallquist, Michael 1
HR: Gonzalez, Matthew 1
RBI: Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Gonzalez, Matthew 3
SH: King, Houston 1 ; Grego, Dylan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hallquist, Michael 1 ; Dobbins, Hunter 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1 ; Gonzalez, Matthew 1
SB: Scheffler, Decker 2
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
1
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P
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/ Baseball
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/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
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