Ball State jumped out to an early lead on Purdue, then let its bullpen do the rest in a 4-1 victory at Lambert Field in West Lafayette.
The victory is BSU's second in a row over the Boilermakers -- following a 17-14 slugfest at Ball Diamond last year -- and breaks a four-game losing streak in West Lafayette.
Coach Greg Beals has preached to his team about taking care of the little things, and for the most part, he said he felt his team did that against the Boilermakers.
"There's a couple things that stick out," Beals said. "Some of those (pitchers) that didn't have best innings, made big pitches to get out (of a jam). We moved runners over, scored runners from third."
Freshman Ryan DeGeeter (3-0) started and pitched three scoreless innings for the Cardinals, who improved to 11-10 with the win. Six pitchers followed by hurling an inning each, with John Pettibone taking care of the ninth for his second save.
DeGeeter gave up four hits and struck out two. Michael Hale, Joe Ness, Richie Fralik, Jeff Michael, Erik Morrison and Pettibone combined to allow one hit and five walks, but they struck out five and stranded six runners.
"It was one of those midweek games where we wanted to get everybody some work," Beals said. "They did a good job. We could've thrown a little better and had cleaner innings, but to give up one run in a college game with wind blowing out, that's a good game."
Beals had planned on having DeGeeter pitch a couple more innings. But after Tuesday's game at home was rained out, he needed to give more bullpen pitchers some work in order to keep them sharp for the weekend.
The Cards first struck in the second inning, when first baseman Brad Miller led off with a single and later scored from third on Andrew Groves' wild pitch.
In the third Mike Sullivan led off with another single, and Matt Singleton followed laced a double down the left field line to plate him. Groundouts by Kyle Dygert and Marc Franz then moved Singleton around.
Purdue (9-10) managed a run off Hale in the fourth, but Dygert responded by launching a solo home run to right the next inning.
Miller batted a perfect for 4 for 4, while Sullivan was 2 for 3. In all, the Cards clubbed nine hits.
"It is coming around," Beals said of his team's offense. "We're feeling a little better about it. It's definitely not fixed; it's gonna be a continuous battle with the offense.
"We knew that we weren't going to be explosive team. We just have to keep grinding and getting what we can."
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