MUNCIE, Ind.- Ball State twice battled back from a three-run deficit and slipped by Western Michigan 7-6 in 10 innings Sunday. The win also gave the Cardinals the series victory over WMU, two games to one. The Broncos opened the weekend with a 7-3 win on Friday and Ball State claimed a 3-2 victory on Saturday.
Western Michigan scored three runs in the third, but Ball State tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. The Broncos again put three on the board in the top of the eighth only to have the Cardinals tie the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Ball State loaded the bases with one out in the 10th with a single, walk and hit by pitch off of reliever
Monty Porter. Porter handed the ball off to
Pat Haynes and another hit by pitch brought home the winning run for the Cardinals.
Porter (0-2) took the loss after entering the game with two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth. He walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, but then worked out of the inning with a strikeout and a fly out. The senior right-hander was making his 82nd career appearance, passing Tim Mowry with 81 and setting a new all-time mark at Western Michigan.
Seven Broncos totaled nine hits for WMU. Freshman third baseman
Grant Miller went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Junior right fielder
Jared Kujawa drove in a run with his sixth double of the season and junior shortstop
Andrew Sohn went 1-for-3 with a sac fly. Sophomore catcher
Brett Sunde (0-for-2) had his 12-game hitting streak come to an end but his on-base streak continued to 13 with a pair of walks and run scored.
Brandon Cable, Miller and
Vinnie Booker hit consecutive singles to begin the third for Western Michigan. Cable scored on a wild pitch and the other two runners moved up a base. Sohn followed with a sac fly to center and Kujawa doubled to right to score Booker.
Western Michigan loaded the bases with one out in the eighth. Sunde walked,
Hunter Prince singled and
Kurt Hoekstra also drew a walk. A passed ball allowed Sunde to score and Cable walked to keep the bags full. A wild pitch brought Prince across the plate and a squeeze bunt by Miller scored Hoekstra.
Sohn singled for Western Michigan with one out in the ninth and with two outs and first base available Sunde was intentionally walked. A groundout however ended the at bat for the Broncos. Miller had a two-out single in the 10th.
A three-run homer by Alex Maloney tied the game at three for Ball State in the fourth. The Cardinals scored a run on four walks in the eighth and Sean Godfrey hit a two-run single. Maloney picked up a fourth RBI when he was plunked by the pitch in the 10th, scoring Godfrey for the winning run.
LHP Chris Lovejoy was the pitcher of record for the Cardinals, throwing the 10th, and evened his season mark to 1-1.
Western Michigan freshman LHP
Keegan Akin went six innings in the start and struck out seven. He gave up just five hits and the three runs on the homer.
The loss dropped Western Michigan's record to 14-21 overall and 5-10 in the Mid-American Conference. Ball State improved to 27-13 overall, 11-3 in the MAC. The Cardinals are 10-1 at home this season, their only loss coming Friday afternoon to Western Michigan.
WMU is scheduled to host Northern Illinois this upcoming weekend, April 25-27, in what would be the Broncos' first games of the season in Kalamazoo.
