C.J. Webb's six hits in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday helped Ball State sweep Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois over the weekend.
Webb's performance tied three other Cardinals for most hits in a game, including teammate Marc Franz, who collected six hits in a game in 2003. Webb finished with 10 hits for the weekend.
Ball State won 6-2, 12-4 and 15-6 to remain undefeated in conference play at 6-0 and improve to 16-9 overall. The sweep increased the Cardinals' win streak to eight.
"We're very excited we've gotten off to a great start in the conference," coach Greg Beals said. "We've pushed ourselves to the top early. We're right where we would love to be."
Friday's game was moved to Saturday due to inclement weather. Tied 1-1 heading into the fifth inning of game one, Ball State scored three runs to take control. Matt Singleton, Mike Sullivan and Jason Bucholtz scored to give the Cardinals a 4-1 advantage.
After Joe Ness gave up a run in the sixth, Ball State finished the scoring in the seventh with two runs to take the 6-2 win.
Like the first game, game two was tied 1-1 after three innings. The Cardinals put up five runs in the fourth before allowing three in the bottom of the inning. Webb led the inning off with a triple to center field, Dygert followed with his own triple, scoring Webb, and Jon Dollinger hit a single to right, which scored Dygert. The Cardinals added three more runs when, with the bases loaded, Singleton scored on a fielder's choice, and Franz doubled to score Miller and Sullivan.
Northern Illinois responded with thee runs the following inning, but the Cardinals finished off the Huskies with three runs in the next two innings and three more in the eighth. Seven of eight Cardinals had at least two hits, and Ball State finished with a season-high 23 hits for the game.
The final game featured more of the same for the Cardinals. Ball State finished with 17 hits to NIU's 11, and the Huskies committed six errors. Trailing 5-3 heading into the eighth inning, the Cardinals exploded for five runs in the eighth and seven runs in the ninth.
"Their defensive miscues kind of helped get us going in the eighth inning, then we kind of blew up from there," Beals said. "They gave us some daylight, left the door open, and the flood gates opened up."
Pestle scored on a double to right field by Webb to open the eighth. Webb later scored on a fielder's choice by Singleton, and Bucholtz brought in Singleton with a single. Later in the inning, a single by Miller scored Sullivan and advanced Bucholtz to third. Bucholtz then scored on a passed ball to close the scoring for the inning.
"The thing I was most excited about was being able to come back in the third game and not be satisfied with taking two of the three," Beals said.
But the Cardinals weren't done offensively. Six hits and a Huskies error led to seven Ball State runs to secure the victory. Included in those seven runs was a grand slam by Singleton, his second of the season.
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