Ball State University's baseball season came to an end when the Cardinals fell 9-3 to top-seed Miami in Friday's Mid-American Conference tournament.
Kyle Dygert opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, and Ball State held a 3-1 lead heading into the fourth.
But in the next four innings, Miami scored the final eight runs, and Miami's Jeff Day allowed three runs on 12 hits in nine innings. Dygert and Brad Miller each finished with three hits, while Mike Sullivan, Eric Earnhart and Matt Singleton each had two.
"We got off to a pretty good start," coach Greg Beals said. "Their pitcher settled in, and he gave them quite a ball game."
Miami grabbed the lead for good in the fourth with three runs. First baseman Geoff Orr doubled down the left-field line to score two, and shortstop Eric Radley later bunted safely toward second base, scoring Orr.
Ball State (38-16) never threatened to score after the third inning and couldn't advance a runner past first base in the final six innings.
"We just didn't get hits at the right time," Beals said. "It wasn't any one thing in that game."
Ryan DeGeeter took the mound against the Redhawks. He lasted five innings, allowing five runs on nine hits. Richie Fralick and Luke Behning each threw two innings in relief for the Cardinals. Fralick allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on five hits. In two innings, Behning gave up one base hit and no runs.
Earlier in the tournament, the Cardinals defeated Bowling Green, 5-4, on Wednesday, then fell to Central Michigan, 8-7, on Thursday. The double-elimination format of the MAC tournament gave the Cardinals one final chance to take the MAC crown. Ball State bounced back by defeating Akron, 6-3, in its first elimination game on Friday, but couldn't duplicate that performance against Miami.
By defeating Ball State, Miami advanced to the championship game against third-seeded Central Michigan on Saturday. The Redhawks won the championship with two wins against CMU, 5-2 and 10-6.
"That's the way the season ends up," Beals said. "There's only one team celebrating at the end of the year."
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