Baseball Scores Final 11 Runs of the Game in 11-3 Series-Opening Win at Kent State; Saturday's Game Pushed Back to 5 PM

Friday, April 17

Kent, Ohio

6 PM

Ball State University

19-18, 13-6

Kent State

26-10, 13-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Ball St.	0	0	2	0	6	0	3	0	0	11	15	1
Kent St.	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	2

Gavin Balius giving Luke Jaksich a high five after reaching first base safely on Friday night at Schoonover Stadium in Kent, Ohio.

Photo by: Caden Vincent

Baseball Scores Final 11 Runs of the Game in 11-3 Series-Opening Win at Kent State; Saturday's Game Pushed Back to 5 PM

April 17, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

KENT, Ohio – The Ball State baseball team rallied for six runs in the fifth inning and scored the final 11 runs of the game in an 11-3 win over Kent State on Friday night at Schoonover Stadium.

The Cardinals (19-18, 13-6 Mid-American Conference) got a three-run homer by Charlie Keller to go ahead 5-3, and Ryan Muizelaar (single), Brady Davidson (double) and Brett Griffiths (single) followed with RBI hits to tack on three runs for the six-run fifth.

Ball State added three insurance runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by a run-scoring double from Muizelaar, and starting pitcher Brendan Garza shut down the Kent State offense for the balance of the game to lead the Cardinals to the series-opening victory.

The Golden Flashes (26-10, 13-6 MAC) plated one run in the first frame and two runs in the second to build a 3-0 lead, but the visitors responded with a pair of tallies in the third as Keller scored on an error and Gavin Balius came home on a grounder off the bat of Brayden Huebner to make it a 3-2 score.

Garza (4-3) struck out five in 8.0 innings of three-run ball (one earned) to earn the win for the Cardinals. Owen Quinn came on in relief and got one strikeout in a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Muizelaar went 3-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored to lead an offense with five players recording multiple hits. Huebner, Davidson, Keller and Max Kalk notched two hits on the night for Ball State.

With the win, the Cardinals moved into a tie for first place in the MAC standings.

"Our boys played a solid game," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "After the second inning we executed at a high level in all facets of the game. Excellent pitching performance and the situational and timely hitting was outstanding."

Kent State starting pitcher Ciaran Caughey (4-2) allowed seven runs in 4.0 innings pitched to be hit with the loss. Nolan Belcher hit a home run but was the only player for the Golden Flashes with multiple hits.

The second game of the series was pushed back to 5 p.m. on Saturday.