Ball State nearly pulled off an upset at Notre Dame for a second-straight year at Frank Eck Stadium, but the Irish came back from a three-run deficit and outlasted the Cardinals 7-6 in 15 innings.
Notre Dame's Steve Andres, who was hitless in his previous five at-bats, led off the bottom of the 15th with a triple to right-center off John Pettibone, who had pitched five scoreless innings. Craig Cooper followed with a single on the next pitch to plate Andres with the game-winner.
The Irish, ranked eighth in the latest coaches poll and 11th by Baseball America, improved to 33-8. Ball State, which edged then-No. 17 Notre Dame 3-1 last year, falls to 20-17.
"I told (the team) I was proud of how they competed," coach Greg Beals said. "It was a good game and a tough loss. I told them that we didn't particularly play a great game, but it's very encouraging how we competed with them."
The Cards' last good scoring chance came in the 14th inning, when Kiel Holman doubled with one out. But Ryan Doherty (5-1) came in to pitch for the Irish and struck out Kenny Bargfeldt and Mike Sullivan. Holman also doubled in the ninth and 12th with less than two outs, and Miller did the same in the 13th, but each time the Cards failed to convert.
Ball State first baseman Brad Miller cranked out a pair of two-run homers, one in the first and another in the fourth. Kyle Dygert and Jason Bucholtz followed Miller's second shot by rapping back-to-back doubles to produce a 5-3 advantage.
Notre Dame had answered Miller's first blast with two runs in the first off BSU's Ryan DeGeeter.
Lucas Fry added a two-out RBI single in the fifth after Miller was intentionally walked, making it 6-3.
The Irish scored single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Greg Lopez's two-out single off reliever Erik Morrison scored Craig Cooper. Cooper added an RBI single in the eighth, and Javi Sanchez's ninth-inning sacrifice fly scored Matt Macri and forced extra innings.
For Beals, Notre Dame's lofty ranking did not make the loss any easier to deal with.
"We had opportunities to win, and we didn't get it done," Beals said. "It was a good game, but we still lost. We'll found out how we come back (from the defeat) tomorrow. We need to be prepared; it's another opportunity to challenge ourselves."
Miller's two homers give him 13 on the year. He and Holman each gathered three hits. Pettibone fell to 0-5 with the loss. The Cardinals look to bounce back today when they travel to Wizards Stadium in Fort Wayne for a 3 p.m. contest with IPFW.
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