The conditions were ripe for high scoring on Sunday at Ball Diamond, and Ball State took advantage.
With the wind blowing out all day, the Cardinals launched four solo home runs off Western Michigan starting pitcher Dan O'Brien. BSU then pulled away with nine runs in sixth inning and defeated the Broncos 17-5. The victory gave the Cards (20-16, 10-5 Mid-American Conference) a 2-1 series win at home over Western (15-20, 5-7).
Ball State remained tied atop the West Division with Eastern Michigan (8-4 in league play). The Cardinals travel to Ypsilanti, Mich., on Friday for a series with the Eagles.
While he was obviously happy with the offensive output, BSU coach Greg Beals was more impressed with his team's pitching.
"We did break out offensively, but I don't know if it was a fix-all," Beals said. "The story was how well we pitched. Scoring wasn't going to be an issue with the wind blowing out at 20 miles per hour. Obviously if you score 17 runs you should win, but the '5' is more extreme than the '17' on a day like today."
Senior Andrew Anderson (4-2) battled through six innings on the mound, giving up all of Western's runs but still recording the win thanks to his teammates' offensive eruption. Jeff Michael, Michael Hale and John Pettibone followed with scoreless innings of relief.
Junior third baseman Marc Franz opened the scoring with a jab over the right-center fence in the first inning, then teamed with first baseman Brad Miller for back-to-back shots to left in the fifth.
Lucas Fry had homered in the fourth, followed by doubles from Kyle Dygert and Jason Bucholtz, to tie things at 3-3.
"Offensively, we've been waiting to bust out," said Franz, who had an RBI sacrifice fly in the big sixth inning. "With the wind blowing out today, we knew we had to put up a lot of runs to win.
"I've had three or four games in a row where I wasn't hitting the ball well. Today was a good day (to hit) with the conditions. I just got myself some good pitches to hit."
Western scored twice with two outs in the top of the sixth, but the first five BSU batters reached base against WMU bullpen. Pinch hitter Kenny Bargfeldt capped the outburst by driving a three-run double into the right field corner. In all, the Cards strung together six hits, two walks and WMU errors, a hit batter.
Such an outburst would have been welcome Ball State's 4-2 loss on Friday. Instead, Western ace J.R. Mathes scattered six hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts for a complete-game victory.
Miller, whose sacrifice fly scored BSU's first run, legged out a one-out infield hit in the ninth. After Kyle Dygert drew a two-out walk, Bucholtz lined a double to left, scoring Miller. But Kiel Holman struck out looking to end the game, handing BSU its first MAC home loss.
Beals felt his team not playing during week aided in its struggles, but added that the left-handed Mathes had one of best performances his team had seen this season.
"Our timing and approach weren't real solid," he said.
Ball State bounced back with a 6-3 victory on Saturday, as sophomore Joe Ness (6-2) pitched seven innings for the win and freshman Ryan DeGeeter added two shutout innings for his second save.
Miller lifted a two-run homer to left in the first, then capped his team's scoring with a single to score Sullivan in the seventh. Both hits came with two outs.
Sullivan (three runs) doubled and singled in runs, and Franz added an RBI single.
"As far as the team goes, we've been struggling getting hits with runners in scoring position," Miller said. "That's why we lost some close games, especially in MAC play."
The series victory is BSU's fourth straight in league action. In the last two the team has won on Sunday after splitting the first two.
"That's something we strive for," Beals said. "We talk about winning the series and winning today. This team does a good job of putting things behind them and focusing on the game at hand."
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