Cardinals Fall to No. 5 Seed Western Michigan in MAC Tournament

Thursday, May 21

Avon, Ohio

10 AM

Ball State University

25-30

Western Michigan

27-24

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Ball State	2	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	6	10	0
Western Michigan	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	2	X	8	15	2

Brady Davidson in a red Ball State baseball uniform swinging a baseball bat

Photo by: Josh Brunette

Cardinals Fall to No. 5 Seed Western Michigan in MAC Tournament

May 21, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score

AVON, Ohio – The Ball State baseball team got out to an early two-run lead and tied the game in the seventh inning but fell 8-6 to Western Michigan at the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon at ForeFront Field.

The No. 6 seed Cardinals (25-30) used RBI singles by Jack Bakus and Brett Griffiths to build a 2-0 edge after the top of the first inning before the No. 5 seed Broncos (27-24) responded with a pair of runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame.

Ball State produced one tally each in the second (Brayden Huebner RBI grounder) and third (Jacob Gillis sacrifice fly) to regain a 4-2 lead, but WMU again tied the contest with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. The Broncos put up two more scores on the board in the fourth to take their first lead of the game at 6-4.

Griffiths hit a ground ball to the Western Michigan third baseman that was missed in the seventh frame and allowed Bakus and Brady Davidson to come home and knot the game again.

Avery Thielman hit what proved to be the game-winning two-run double in the eighth for the Broncos. Ball State put a runner on with one out in the ninth but couldn't score.

Davidson notched four hits on the afternoon for the Cardinals, while Bakus, Griffiths and Ryan Muizelaar tallied two each.

Keegan Johnson struck out two in 4.1 innings pitched out of the bullpen but allowed two runs to be hit with the loss.

Turner Doran (2-2) had two strikeouts in 2.0 scoreless frames in relief to be credited with the win for Western Michigan. Thielman paced the Broncos with four hits for the game.

"Our guys battled until the end - sometimes the outcomes you would like just aren't there," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "It certainly was not a lack of effort from the players or staff. Special thanks to all who supported our team this year."