13 Runs & 16 Hits Equal Win #1000 for Rich Maloney

MUNCIE, Ind. -- Blake Bevis and Korbin Griffin each had three hits, among six Ball State batters that had multiple hits in a 13-10 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday, but the early evening victory belonged to Rich Maloney, the 30-year head coach who recorded the 1,000th win of his coaching career.

Maloney, just the 10th active Division I coach with over 1,000 wins, is just the sixth among those active coaches to have won at least 1,000 with Division I programs, alone. In his second stint and 20th season guiding the Cardinals, Maloney also coached Michigan for 10 years. He is the 69th coach in college baseball history to reach the 1,000-win plateau, and the 50th to eclipse 1,000 exclusively at Division I schools.

Consecutive singles by Dylan Grego, Nick Husovsky, Bevis and Griffin sparked a three-run seventh for Ball State, putting the Cardinals in command for good. They added a final tally in the bottom of the eighth on a double by leadoff man Alex Richter who finished with three runs with a pair of hits and RBI.

Maloney's 1,000th victory began, however, with an ominous start as the Mastadons used five runs in the opening frame to race to a 7-1 lead.

Maloney's boys, though, kept fighting. Ball State got a run in the first, two in the second and two in the third to close within 7-5. Purdue Fort Wayne scored again in the top of the sixth for an 8-6 advantage, but Richter's homer to lead off the bottom of the sixth pulled the Cardinals within 8-7. Bevis' triple off the center field wall plated Dylan Grego and Houston King later in the inning, and Ball State was on top.

The Mastadons, themselves, weren't ready to watch the Cardinals and over 700 fans celebrate just yet. PFW added two more runs to re-take the lead at 10-9, but they never scored again and the Cardinals' three-run seventh steered Maloney towards the milestone win.

Zach Leduc (2-0) was credited with the win for Ball State, firing 1.2 scoreless innings over the seventh and eighth innings. In a game featuring 23 runs and 28 hits, Leduc was one of 16 pitchers (10 by PFW) in the contest that lasted nearly three hours, 40 minutes.

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Team Stats

Blake Bevis

Korbin Griffin

Alex Richter

Houston King

Players Mentioned

Blake Bevis

Dylan Grego

Korbin Griffin

Nick Husovsky

Houston King

Zach Leduc

Alex Richter