BASEBALL: Team sweeps weekend doubleheader

Junior Sean Godfrey swings at an Akron pitch during the second game of the Akron doubleheader on Mar. 23, 2013. Ball State defeated USC Upstate 7-4. DN FILE PHOTO JONATHAN MIKSANEK
Junior Sean Godfrey swings at an Akron pitch during the second game of the Akron doubleheader on Mar. 23, 2013. Ball State defeated USC Upstate 7-4. DN FILE PHOTO JONATHAN MIKSANEK

Just a couple days into the season, the Ball State baseball team was already playing a doubleheader.

For the second game in a row, the players found themselves in an early hole when a lead-off walk by starting pitcher Jacob Brewer came around to score, making the game 0-1 early.

Morehead State’s lead would be short-lived, as the bottom of the first saw the Cardinals send eight men to the plate, half coming home to score. Two runs for Morehead State in the second followed with another two runs in the third tied the score at four apiece.

The score would remain at 4-4 until the bottom of the fifth when Cardinal’s third baseman, Sean Kennedy, singled home T.J. Weir giving Ball State a one-run advantage.

The Eagles would answer with a run of their own in the top of the sixth, tying the game for the second time.

In the seventh, a throwing error allowed Ryan Spaulding to reach first.

A passed ball to right fielder Sean Godfrey moved pinch runner Cole Griesinger to second, giving Godfrey a chance to put Ball State back in front. He delivered, ripping a single to center field scoring Griesinger from second base.

“That was huge,” Ball State head coach Richard Maloney said after the game. “When he’s getting [hits] they are the timely ones. That’s more important than the average. If you get the hit at the right time, that’s meaningful.”

Weir would knock in two more, giving give Ball State a little room to breathe.

The two run lead would prove to be enough, as the Zach Plesac’s pitching kept Morehead State at five runs, earning a win.

The second game of the doubleheader against Wofford looked familiar, with the team falling behind after Wofford scored two in the bottom of the first inning.

A two-run home run by Cardinal left fielder Kyle Raleigh tied the game in the top of the fifth inning, but Wofford grabbed it right back with a pair of their own in the inning’s bottom half.

In the top of the sixth a two-run single by Raleigh evened the game at 4-4.

Solid pitching from both sides kept the score knotted at four through nine innings, and it wasn’t until the top of the tenth inning when a two-out RBI single by Spaulding gave Ball State the lead. An RBI single by Call gave the Cardinals an insurance run, making it 6-4, and senior Chris Lovejoy closed out the bottom of the tenth.

Plesac earned the win for Ball State, also giving him his second win of the day. The Cardinals improved to 3-0 with their third come from behind victory.

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