Cardinals Drop 9-8 Heartbreaker to Kent State at MAC Tournament

AVON, Ohio – The Ball State baseball team rallied from four runs back in the eighth inning to tie the game but fell 9-8 on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Kent State at the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at Crushers Stadium.

The No. 3 seed Cardinals (36-21) trailed the No. 2 seed Golden Flashes (38-16) by a score of 8-4 entering the eighth inning before crossing home plate four times in the top half of the frame capped off by a game-tying RBI double by Garrett Arnold to left field.

Alex Richter hit an RBI single, and Ben Giovannetti had an RBI grounder to start the rally. Richter scored on a throwing error to set up Arnold's clutch hit.

Ball State looked primed to take the lead in the top of the ninth when Dylan Grego led off the frame on a single and Nick Husovsky hit a ball close to the center field wall where the Kent State centerfielder appeared to catch the ball at first. After a review, Husovsky was called out for passing Grego on the base paths in the confusion of the play, which the umpires deemed the fielder to have dropped the ball.

Kent State loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth before Sawyer Solitaria grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop where Dylan Grego threw home to Arnold for the force out. Brody Williams hit a sacrifice fly on a full count to conclude the game.

Grego scored the first tally of the game on a double play in the first inning before the Golden Flashes plated four runs in the first and two in the second. Blake Bevis responded with an RBI single in the third and Richter (sacrifice fly) and Ty Davis (single) drove in runs in the sixth to make the score 7-4 in favor of Kent State, who scored a run in the sixth to preclude the eventful final frames.

Husovsky went 4-for-5 with two runs scored on the day, while Bevis and Davis each had three knocks and two from Grego.

Ball State's Owen Quinn (4-3) struck out one in 1.2 innings of work but allowed the final run to score to suffer the loss. Alex Burden struck out six in 5.2 frames of two-run ball to bridge the gap between starting pitcher Jacob Hartlaub and Quinn.

Kent's Benny Roebuck (3-3) tossed the last 1.2 innings to be credited with the win.

"Proud of our guys," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "A very strange baseball event happened that cost our boys a comeback victory. The grit our boys continue to display is special and real. I feel for them because they played their hearts out."

The Cardinals will play the winner of Friday night's game between No. 5 seed Toledo and No. 6 seed Eastern Michigan at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Cardinals Drop 9-8 Heartbreaker to Kent State at MAC Tournament

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Team Stats

Nick Husovsky

Blake Bevis

Ty Davis

Dylan Grego

Players Mentioned

Garrett Arnold

Blake Bevis

Alex Burden

Ty Davis

Ben Giovannetti

Dylan Grego

Jacob Hartlaub

Nick Husovsky

Owen Quinn

Alex Richter