Akron snapped Ball State's 12-game winning streak on Sunday, a streak that tied Ball State's 1968 record for consecutive wins in a season.
The record will have to wait after Akron crushed Ball State 13-4 at Ball Diamond. The Zips used 19 hits and poor Ball State pitching to its advantage early on, scoring eight runs total in the third and fourth inning to take an 8-4 lead. From there, Akron never looked back.
"We didn't talk about [the streak]," a disappointed coach Greg Beals said. "We weren't aware of it; it wasn't important to us. We didn't do anything to win [Sunday's] game."
Ball State (20-10 overall, 8-1 Mid-American Conference) scored three runs in the second before Akron took its commanding lead against pitchers Michael Hale and Tyler Pritchard. The Zips scored five more times on two home runs in the seventh -- one on a grand slam by Billy McKinney and the other delivered by Kurt Davidson in the next at-bat.
"We've won 12 of our last 13. We've got to get back to playing winning baseball," Beals said.
Before Sunday, Akron made Ball State earn two wins, including a thrilling come-from-behind victory on Friday.
For most of that game, Ball State's offense hit a brick wall in the form of Akron's infield defense. Through eight innings, the Cardinals managed only three hits beyond the infield -- two singles by Brad Miller and a single by Chris Pestle. With Zips pitcher Ross Liersemann dominating the Cardinals offense during that time with no walks, Miller and Pestle were the only runners to advance on base and neither advanced any further than first.
During that time, Akron scored three runs, one in the first inning on an RBI single by McKinney and two more the following inning.
The Cardinals couldn't get any offense going until the ninth, and even then they had to rely on some lucky bounces.
Matt Singleton led off with a single and advanced to second on an error by third baseman Shaun Hinssen. Mike Sullivan followed with a single that bounced off Hinssen's glove, advancing Singleton to third. Akron reliever Derek Stanfield Jason Bucholtz loaded the bases for the Cards, and Miller brought in the first Cardinals run of the game when he was hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Kyle Dygert sent the game into extra innings with a two-RBI single.
Dygert's heroics weren't over yet, though. Two extra innings later, he hit an RBI single that scored Justin Rogers for a 4-3 win.
Saturday, Akron opened the scoring with two runs off Ben Snyder. But Ball State responded in the fourth with Chris Pestle's sacrifice fly and C.J. Webb's two-round double. The Cardinals scored two more times before allowing a Zips run in the eighth to end the scoring at 5-3.
Snyder recorded his fourth win, while Erik Morrison notched his eighth save. Morrison also earned the win in relief Friday.
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