Ball State University
31-13, 17-3
Central Michigan
16-27, 8-12
Bevis' Blast Caps Comeback Victory for Cardinals over Central Michigan
April 26, 2025 | Baseball
The Cardinals (31-13, 17-3 Mid-American Conference) trailed 4-0 after six innings but struck for three runs in both the seventh and eighth frames to claim the series win over the Chippewas (16-27, 8-12 MAC). Nick Husovsky had a sacrifice fly in the ninth to score Gavin Balius for an insurance run.
Houston King got the scoring started for the visitors in the seventh on a sac fly that plated Ty Davis. Alex Richter later drove home Ben Giovannetti on a triple and scored on a wild pitch to get the Cardinals within 4-3 at the end of the inning.
Ball State tied the game and went ahead on consecutive at bats in the eighth, with Garrett Arnold driving in Husovsky on a single before Bevis launched a pitch over the wall to give the Cardinals a 6-4 edge.
Bevis and Husovsky each had two hits, while seven different Ball State players crossed home plate. The visitors scored all seven of their runs and rapped out eight hits in the final three innings.
Lucas Letsinger (1-1) came on with two runners aboard and two outs in the seventh and struck out a Central Michigan hitter to get out of the jam and be credited with his first win of the year. Owen Quinn induced the last four outs of the contest to earn a save on the second straight day and fourth time this season.
"Our boys fought back from a 4-0 deficit to claim a hard-earned victory," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "Blake Bevis hit the go-ahead home run, Jacob Hartlaub gave us 6 2/3 innings and Lucas Letsinger gave us a big lift in relief before Owen Quinn finished for us. So many guys contributed - a great team effort."
Jacob Hartlaub started for Ball State and struck out four in 6.2 innings of work. Central's Cayden Smith (1-3) was hit with the loss after giving up four runs in one frame.
Ball State and Central Michigan are set to conclude the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Letsinger, Lucas (1-1)
L: Cayden Smith (1-3)
S: Quinn, Owen (4)
Batting:
2B: Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Davis, Ty 1 ; Giovannetti, Ben 1
3B: Richter, Alex 1
HR: Bevis, Blake 1
RBI: Richter, Alex 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Arnold, Garrett 1 ; Bevis, Blake 2 ; King, Houston 1
SF: Husovsky, Nick 1 ; King, Houston 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Richter, Alex 1 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Arnold, Garrett 1 ; Bevis, Blake 1 ; Davis, Ty 1 ; Giovannetti, Ben 1 ; Balius, Gavin 1
HBP: Arnold, Garrett 1
Batting:
2B: Mikey Murphy 1 ; Aydin Wright 1 ; Cayden Smith 1 ; Brady Krzciok 1
RBI: Mikey Murphy 1 ; Aaron Piasecki 1 ; Nathan Ball 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mikey Murphy 1 ; Aaron Piasecki 1 ; Brady Krzciok 1 ; Zach Knowlton 1
SB: Aaron Piasecki 1 ; Cole Prout 1
