The Ball State baseball team played a shortened five inning game against Wright State on Tuesday but that didn't stop them from scoring seven runs, including a grand slam from sophomore Kyle Dygert in the top of the fifth.
The Cardinals also pitched a one-hit shutout in a game that was delayed three times because of rain.
After finishing their regular season Mid-American Conference schedule, head coach Greg Beals wanted to use this game as a way to get a lot of people some playing time and prepare them for the upcoming MAC Tournament.
"[It was] just a little bit of a momentum thing," Beals said. "It's all in preparation for our tournament now."
In a game that saw all of its action at the beginning and end, the Cardinals took advantage of Wright State's mistakes in the first inning. After sophomores Mike Sullivan and Matt Singleton were walked to lead off, junior Marc Franz fouled out, allowing Sullivan to advance to third. Sophomore Brad Miller then hit a groundball to shortstop - which was muffed - and then threw into right field, allowing Miller to advance to second and Sullivan to score on two errors by Wright State's shortstop.
Late in the inning Dygert pushed Singleton across the plate with his sacrifice fly to give the Cards' a 2-0 lead. Raider pitcher Chris Coleman relieved Kyle Young and struck out Kiel Holman to end the first for Wright State.
The Cardinals quickly loaded up the bases in the top of the fifth inning. After senior James Nowicki flied out, Sullivan, Singleton and Franz all hit singles. Miller was walked by Coleman allowing Sullivan to score before Dygert hit a grand slam for his eighth home run of the year to give the Cards' a 7-0 lead.
"That was obviously a big highlight of the game," Beals said. "That broke the game open."
The team is continuing to try to improve their approach offensively by finding good pitches and knowing when to hit them, Beals said.
The Cardinals only threw 58 pitches all game and 36 of them were strikes. Pitcher Richie Fralick, who started the game for the Cards, had 16 strikes in his 26 pitches and allowed no hits.
Junior Erik Morrison allowed the only hit of the game in the third inning but recovered well, throwing 11 strikes in his 18 pitches in two innings. Senior John Pettibone, who pitched the fifth inning, had two strikeouts.
The team will now travel to the University of Miami (Fla.) for a three game series starting Thursday.
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