Ball State University
6-5
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North Florida
7-5
Baseball Can't Complete Comeback in Series Finale at North Florida
March 02, 2025 | Baseball
The Cardinals (6-5) settled for a series win after taking Friday's opener 5-1 and claiming a 6-2 victory on Saturday. North Florida improved its record to 7-5 with the decision.
The Ospreys got three runs in the second inning and one in the fourth to build its 4-run edge. Ball State responded with an RBI triple from Nick Husovsky in the top of the fifth that scored Garrett Arnold and a bases-clearing double by Houston King in the sixth inning to tie the game at 4-4.
North Florida crossed the plate once each in the sixth and seventh frames before Gavin Balius plated Clay Jacobs in the eighth with an RBI single to make the score 6-5 in favor of the hosts. The Cardinals had a runner stranded at third base in the eighth inning and left runners on first and third to end the game.
Ball State had a pair of hits each from Husovsky, Jacobs and Blake Bevis, while Jacobs also scored twice. The Cardinals hit three doubles and committed one error on the day.
Connor Hutchinson started the game for the visitors and struck out five in 3.1 innings of 4-run ball, while Owen Quinn (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing a single run in his lone inning of work.
North Florida's Jackson Bellhorn (1-0) was credited with the by tossing 1.2 shutout frames in relief, while Kaden Humphrey came on to get the final four outs and pick up his second save of the year.
"Our boys battled back but just came up a little short," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "We won a road series which is a positive."
Ball State will next play games on Tuesday and Wednesday at Florida A&M in Tallahassee starting at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: BELLHORN, Jackson (1-0)
L: Quinn, Owen (0-1)
S: HUMPHREY, Kaden (2)
Batting:
2B: King, Houston 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1
3B: Husovsky, Nick 1
RBI: King, Houston 3 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Balius, Gavin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Arnold, Garrett 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 2 ; Balius, Gavin 1
SB: Arnold, Garrett 1
CS: Griffin, Korbin 1
HBP: Bevis, Blake 1
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Batting:
2B: BROWNING, Brady 1 ; OMAN, James 1 ; ALFORD, Seth 1
3B: MONILE, Nick 1 ; MOORE, Connor 1
RBI: MONILE, Nick 3 ; BUSH, Cade 1 ; LEINENBACH, Drew 1 ; ALFORD, Seth 1
SF: BUSH, Cade 1
Base Running:
RUNS: MOORE, Connor 1 ; BROWNING, Brady 1 ; OMAN, James 2 ; LEINENBACH, Drew 1 ; ALFORD, Seth 1
SB: BROWNING, Brady 1 ; OMAN, James 1 ; LEINENBACH, Drew 1
