Despite entering the ninth inning of both weekend games with the lead, the Ball State University baseball team couldn't hold on, losing 5-4 to Towson on Friday and 13-8 to Le Moyne College on Sunday.
Ball State led 4-3 against Towson and 8-7 against Le Moyne entering the final inning.
"Both games we committed errors," coach Greg Beals said. "That kind of got things going for the other teams. In both cases, our defense helped the other team out."
Sunday's game against the Dolphins saw the Cardinals overcome a seven-run deficit midway through the game with eight runs in two innings. The score remained the same, 8-7, before Le Moyne scored six runs in the top of the ninth.
"Both games this weekend, we found ways to get in the game and we'd give ourselves an opportunity to win, then we found ways to give it up," Beals said.
Le Moyne designated hitter Matt Nandin hit a grand slam in the second inning, and the Dolphins added three more runs before Ball State left fielder Chris Pestle hit his first home run of the year to cut the deficit to six. Pestle's shot over the center field fence ended Michael Falasca's no-hitter through four innings.
"We had a few timely hits that got our offense going," Pestle said. "We got some clutch hits that we haven't always gotten, but we just couldn't really close it out in the ninth inning in both games."
From there, Ball State scored seven runs to take a one-run lead.
With the score 7-3, Kyle Dygert drove in two runs with a triple in the fifth inning. In the following inning, the Cardinals tied the game, 7-7, when three Le Moyne pitchers walked four Ball State batters and allowed a passed ball.
In the eighth, BSU's Mike Sullivan scored on Matt Singleton's sacrifice fly to give Ball State the lead.
But the Dolphins scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 13-8 lead and give them their first win of the season.
"It's just been a couple of little things that come back to bite us," said Pestle, citing mental errors. "We let them hang around and hang around before it comes back to bite us."
Against Towson on Friday, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Brad Miller scored on a wild pitch. After the Tigers tied the game the following inning, Miller hit a two-run home run to give Ball State a 3-1 lead.
Towson tied the game in the fifth after A.J. Tinnerella drove in two runs with a double, and the Tigers appeared on the verge of taking the lead in the following inning with the bases loaded. But Ben Snyder picked off the runner on second base and the Cardinals ended the inning with a double play.
Snyder pitched six innings, striking out nine and allowing one walk and three earned runs in his second appearance of the season.
"My mechanics were more sound," he said. "I couldn't really throw my changeup for strikes last week and this week I got a couple strikeouts with it."
The Cardinals re-took the lead when C.J. Webb scored on Pestle's RBI double in the seventh, but another hit by Tinnerella drove in two more runs in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Tigers a 5-4 win.
Ball State's game on Saturday against The Citadel was canceled due to rain.
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