Ball State University
28-12, 14-3
Bowling Green
25-12, 13-7
Go-Ahead Homer by Bevis and Big Day from Grego Lead Cardinals to Comeback Victory in Slugfest at Bowling Green
April 18, 2025 | Baseball
Grego First Ball State Player since 2017 with Nine RBI in a Game
The Cardinals (28-12, 14-3 Mid-American Conference) trailed after every inning entering the ninth, but Bevis blasted a two-run shot to right field to score himself and John Colligan, and Grego later drilled a grand slam for his third home run of the day and ninth RBI to give the Cardinals some breathing room. Garrett Harker shut down the Bowling Green offense in the bottom half of the frame to secure the win for the visitors.
Ball State scored twice in the first inning, with Grego scoring on a wild pitch and Garrett Arnold bringing home Nick Husovsky on an RBI single to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Bowling Green responded with six tallies in the bottom of the frame, and both teams would go on to score multiple runs in each half inning through the top of the fifth.
The trio of Zach Leduc, Jaden Bitter and Harker allowed only two runs in the final five innings to the Falcons on a windy day with fly balls gusting out. Harker struck out two in two innings, entering the eighth with no outs and a runner on second base, to improve his record to 4-1 on the year.
Grego's first blast of the day was a three-run shot in the second to get the Cardinals within a run at 6-5. Ben Giovannetti, Gavin Balius and Alex Richter later hit RBI singles in the third to close the gap on the hosts' lead to 11-8.
Ball State plated three more runs in the fourth on a Husovsky solo homer, Ty Davis RBI single and Clay Jacobs sacrifice fly. Richter hit a solo shot and Giovannetti added another RBI knock in the fifth that made the score 16-13 in the Falcons' favor.
The Cardinals' last 10 runs of the day scored via the long ball, as Davis blasted a two-run shot to left in the seventh and Grego a two-run homer to right in the eighth to set up the ninth inning heroics.
Grego joined Davis as Cardinals with three home runs in a game this season, and his nine RBI were the most by a Ball State baseball player since Sean Kennedy had nine on April 15, 2017, also against Bowling Green. Grego was revealed to be on the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award honoring the nation's top shortstop earlier in the afternoon.
Seven different Cardinals had multiple hits on the day, with Grego going 4-for-6 and Husovsky 4-for-7, while Giovannetti and Balius hit safely three times each.
"Our boys 'never say die' attitude carried us to victory," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "So many times we could've died, but the boys kept battling. Dylan Grego had a historic day with three home runs and nine RBI. Blake Bevis hit the two-run homer to give us the lead in the ninth. Garrett Harker was outstanding in relief. A lot of guys contributed to our success. A wild baseball game for sure. Thankful we pulled it out."
The two teams are set for a 2 p.m. rubber match on Saturday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Harker, Garrett (4-1)
L: PENROD,Connar (3-2)
Batting:
2B: Husovsky, Nick 2
HR: Richter, Alex 1 ; Grego, Dylan 3 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Davis, Ty 1
RBI: Richter, Alex 2 ; Grego, Dylan 9 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Arnold, Garrett 1 ; Bevis, Blake 2 ; Davis, Ty 3 ; Giovannetti, Ben 2 ; Jacobs, Clay 1 ; Balius, Gavin 1
SF: Jacobs, Clay 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Richter, Alex 1 ; Grego, Dylan 5 ; Husovsky, Nick 2 ; Arnold, Garrett 3 ; Colligan, John 1 ; Bevis, Blake 2 ; Davis, Ty 2 ; Griffiths, Brett 1 ; Giovannetti, Ben 2 ; King, Houston 1 ; Kalk, Max 1 ; Balius, Gavin 2
CS: Balius, Gavin 1
HBP: Davis, Ty 2 ; Kalk, Max 1
Batting:
2B: TAKATS, TJ 1 ; WRIGHT, Garrett 1 ; BIRCHMEIER, Brady 1 ; GANUN, Gavin 1 ; ANTILLON, Gunner 1 ; MOTTICE, Carter 1
HR: GANUN, Gavin 1 ; CURLIS, Brayden 1
RBI: WRIGHT, Garrett 1 ; BIRCHMEIER, Brady 2 ; GANUN, Gavin 4 ; HORKY, Zack 2 ; ANTILLON, Gunner 5 ; CURLIS, Brayden 2 ; MOTTICE, Carter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: TAKATS, TJ 2 ; WRIGHT, Garrett 3 ; BIRCHMEIER, Brady 4 ; GANUN, Gavin 2 ; HORKY, Zack 2 ; ANTILLON, Gunner 2 ; CURLIS, Brayden 2 ; LAIRD, Alex 1
SB: HORKY, Zack 1
HBP: WRIGHT, Garrett 1 ; BIRCHMEIER, Brady 1
