An offensive explosion in the eighth inning Sunday gave the Ball State an 11-6 win against Oakland and a 3-1 series win at Ball Diamond.
The Cardinals (9-9) scored seven runs to overcome a 6-4 deficit. With two runners on base, a wild pitch scored Marc Franz and C.J. Webb's single scored Kyle Dygert to tie the game.
Ball State's offense continued manufacturing runs when Eric Earnhart tripled in Webb tripled and Earnhart scored on an RBI single by Matt Singleton. Ball State added three more runs in the inning, putting away the Golden Grizzlies.
"The thing I like about today is that we busted out," BSU coach Greg Beals said. "The offense put a big number on the board late in the game, and hopefully that's going to breed some confidence."
After taking a 3-2 lead in the first inning on Friday, Ball State gave up three runs the following inning on a home run by Oakland's Kyle Crepeau.
The Cardinals responded in the next four innings with three runs, and took the lead for good at 6-5 in the third. Ball State scored three more runs and allowed one to take a 9-6 win.
Redshirt freshman Ben Snyder shut out Oakland in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, as the Cardinals won 4-0. After struggling in his first three starts as a Cardinal, Snyder struck out a career-high 14 and allowed just three hits.
Mike Sullivan led off the first inning with his first career home run and scored again the following inning on Jason Bucholtz's single.
Ball State maintained a 2-0 lead until it added runs in the fifth and sixth inning. Franz's eight-game hitting streak from last week reached 10 against Oakland, including three in the first game of the doubleheader, before he was held hitless in the second game.
After playing near-flawless baseball in the first game, the Cardinals let down in the second on Saturday and were routed, 9-1. While Snyder gave the Golden Grizzlies fits, game-two-starter Richie Fralick couldn't repeat the performance. He gave up seven runs in just over four innings. But Fralick's outing was better than it looked on paper, Beals said.
"We made some errors behind him, extended some innings," Beals said. "Had we played good defense, it would've shortened up innings for him and made it easier for him to pitch."
Along with its mound struggles, the Cardinals came up short offensively with just three hits.
"We've had times where we struggled offensively with the quality of our at-bats," Beals said. "For some reason, the quality of our at-bats weren't good [in the second game] and the overall intensity wasn't very good."
Oakland opened the scoring with three runs in the first inning, and the Cardinals never recovered. The deficit increased in the next two innings when Tim Doig hit a solo home run in the second and Ty Herriott added a two-run home run the following inning.
On Sunday, Oakland took advantage of Ryan DeGeeter's own mound struggles with four runs in the third to take a 5-2 lead, including a bases loaded hit-by-pitch and walk that scored two runs. Tim Doig climaxed the scoring streak with a two-run double.
Ball State scored a run in the sixth and seventh innings to close the gap, then responded after Oakland's run in the eighth with its eight-run inning.
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