YPSILANTI, Mich. — Ball State's troubles againstleft-handed pitching reared their ugly head Friday at EasternMichigan's Oestrike Stadium. But it also didn't help that EMU'sRyan Ford came in on a roll.
Ford twirled his third-straight complete game, withstandingseven hits and five walks to lead Eastern to a 4-3 victory in abattle of West Division leaders.
"We've got (Mike) Sullivan, (Kyle) Dygert and (Kiel) Holman allbeing lefthanded, and it's tough for them," BSU coach Greg Bealssaid. "But it isn't the fact that he was lefthanded, but that hepitched really well.
Ford (7-3), struck out eight and also picked off two runners.Brad Miller was trapped in a pickle with two on and two out in thefirst inning, and James Nowicki strayed too far off first in theseventh after leading off with a single.
"Those two pickoff plays were huge in the scheme of the game,"Beals said.
Eastern grabbed a 2-0 lead on Derrick Peterson's sacrifice flyin the first inning and Matt Moffett's leadoff home run toleft-center in the next frame.
Ball State struck back in the fourth after loading the baseswith no outs. Ford walked Holman, forcing in Marc Franz. AfterJason Bucholtz struck out, Dygert lined a single to right, scoringLucas Fry and Miller.
Eastern re-took the upper hand in the fifth. Mike Johnston hitthe first batter, Ryan Arnett. One our later, Todd Kimling executeda hit-and-run single. Trumaine Riley then laid down a squeeze buntto bring in the tying run. Brian Bixler followed with a screamer upthe middle to plate Kimling with the eventual winning run.
The Cards had a chance in the ninth, after Bucholtz led off witha single and moved to second on Dygert's bunt. Nowicki hit a weakliner to the pitcher, but Bixler muffed Sullivan's grounder,putting runners at the corners. Ford then got Matt Singleton tostare at a strike three.
"We didn't make two plays in the first inning," Beals said. "Wegave up an unearned run, and they win by one. We had to earn allour runs." With the loss, BSU falls to 1-11 on the season inone-run games.
Miller finished with two hits, but the Cards (21-18, 10-6Mid-American Conference) gathered just seven as a team. Johnston(2-5) suffered the loss.
Eastern, which was led by Bixler's two hits, also had sevenknocks total and improved its record to 23-16 and 9-4.
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