Ball State University
31-15, 17-5
Kent State
30-14, 17-5
Baseball Falls in Series Opener vs Kent State
May 02, 2025 | Baseball
Kent State (30-14, 17-5 Mid-American Conference) moved into a tie for first place in the league standings with the Cardinals (31-15, 17-5 MAC) by taking the series opener. The visitors scored the first six runs of the game, crossing home plate three times in the first inning, twice in the second and once in the third, and would lead by at least three the rest of the way.
Gavin Balius hit an RBI single to score Clay Jacobs and Richter followed with a two-run home run to right field in the third to get the Cardinals within three runs at a 6-3 score. Richter now leads Ball State in home runs (15) and RBI (48) on the year.
The hosts plated another trio of tallies in the fourth frame on Giovannetti's solo homer, a Dylan Grego double to score Jacobs, and a wild pitch allowing Richter to come home.
Ball State had Garrett Arnold hit an RBI double, and he scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to make the deficit 12-8, but the Golden Flashes put the game away with eight runs in the top half of the seventh.
Nick Husovsky and Giovannetti each collected a pair of hits, while Richter and Jacobs scored twice each.
Benny Roebuck (1-3) worked 2.2 innings out of the bullpen and struck out five while allowing two runs to be credited with the win. Keegan Johnson (7-2) suffered the loss with three innings of nine-run ball.
"Kent beat us in every facet of the game," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said.
The two teams are set to play the middle game of the series at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Roebuck,Benny (1-3)
L: Johnson, Keegan (7-2)
Batting:
2B: Matthews, Luke 2 ; Jatczak,Hayden 1 ; Tiesing,Landon 1
3B: Matthews, Luke 1 ; Tiesing,Landon 1
HR: Matthews, Luke 1 ; Jatczak,Hayden 1 ; Casey,Jake 1 ; Williams,Brody 2 ; Schaller,Kolton 2 ; Kibler,Dom 1
RBI: Matthews, Luke 2 ; Jatczak,Hayden 2 ; Casey,Jake 2 ; Solitaria,Sawyer 1 ; Williams,Brody 5 ; Schaller,Kolton 2 ; Kibler,Dom 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Matthews, Luke 4 ; Jatczak,Hayden 4 ; Casey,Jake 2 ; Solitaria,Sawyer 1 ; Williams,Brody 3 ; Schaller,Kolton 3 ; Kiracofe,Micah 1 ; Kibler,Dom 1 ; Tiesing,Landon 1
SB: Matthews, Luke 1
HBP: Jatczak,Hayden 1 ; Klotz,Hunter 1
Batting:
2B: Grego, Dylan 1 ; Arnold, Garrett 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1
HR: Richter, Alex 1 ; Giovannetti, Ben 1
RBI: Richter, Alex 2 ; Grego, Dylan 1 ; Arnold, Garrett 1 ; Giovannetti, Ben 1 ; Balius, Gavin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Richter, Alex 2 ; Husovsky, Nick 1 ; Arnold, Garrett 1 ; Giovannetti, Ben 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 2 ; Balius, Gavin 1
HBP: Bevis, Blake 1 ; Jacobs, Clay 1
