Ball State powered its way to a 2-1 series victory over Mid-American Conference rival Central Michigan over the weekend.
Down 3-0 on Friday, Ball State's offensive power, which had been lacking for the first half of the season, woke up in the sixth inning when Brad Miller and Kyle Dygert sent two balls airborne. Miller's solo home run drove well beyond the left field fence, and Dygert followed two batters later with a solo shot over right field.
"It was just one of those weekends where the offense warmed up," coach Greg Beals said. "All along, I was saying I felt like the power numbers were gonna come. Fortunately they started to show up this weekend."
The score remained 3-2 until the top of the ninth, when Ball State ran into trouble. Kory Bucklew broke his finger when Kurtis Wells drove an infield single back to the mound, and Bucklew couldn't react in time. Bucklew is expected to be out for six weeks, and might be done for the remainder of the season.
After Kyle Heyne replaced Bucklew, Troy Moratti and Wells scored, and a wild pitch by Heyne brought in David Latour from third to produce the final score, 6-2.
"Whenever you see one of your guys go down, there's some mental, emotional impact," Beals said. "I don't blame that for any of their run production. They got hits and drove in runs."
On Saturday, after Miller opened the scoring with a three-run blast over the left field fence in the third, Bryan Mitzel cut the CMU deficit to within two with a solo home run.
The Cardinals (23-11 overall, 10-2 MAC) added three runs in the sixth, including two when the Chippewas' starting pitcher Jason Cairns walked two consecutive batters with the bases loaded.
Down 6-3 heading into the ninth, CMU (20-14 overall, 3-6 MAC) fought to the bitter end. Latour hit a two-run homer against Erik Morrison, but Morrison recovered to strike out Noah Lankford and forced Lafavors to fly out to Jason Bucholtz ending the game.
Bryan Mitzel also hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning on Sunday to give CMU a 2-1 advantage, but Ball State's offense erupted for six runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-2 lead. Miller sent his third home run of the weekend over the right-field fence to start the scoring spurt. He finished the weekend five-for-nine with seven RBI.
RBI singles by Webb, Dygert and Jon Dollinger each scored three runs for the Cards, forcing the Chippewas to make a pitching change. After Josh Collmenter relieved starting pitcher Jayson Ruhlman, he threw a wild pitch against Matt Singleton that scored Dygert.
"We put great at-bats together," Beals said. "We had a lot of two-out hits. That's something we stress, getting the big hit. Not just getting a hit, but getting a big hit with runners in scoring position."
Central Michigan closed the deficit to within one in the eighth with four runs, including a two-run home run by Mitzel -- his second home run of the game and third for the weekend. But Morrison shut down the Chippewas in the ninth, in an effort that included a diving catch by first baseman Brad Miller on a popped-up bunt attempt by Derek Schaller along the first-base foul ball line.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
