Entering the weekend series against Ohio University, the Ball State University baseball team was on a hot streak offensively.
The bats cooled against the Bobcats (10-14, 4-5 Mid-American Conference) though, as the Cardinals (16-14, 6-3 MAC) lost two of three games.
"We didn't play very well," coach Greg Beals said. "We gave up several opportunities on offense. The other thing that I really believe is, sometimes there's weekends where things just don't go well."
Lightning caused an initial 50-minute delay on Friday and after play resumed, the game was postponed to Saturday because of more lightning.
The game restarted where it left off - in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and Ball State at bat. Designated hitter Matt Gard hit a single, moving third baseman Chris Pestle, who had walked in the previous at-bat on Friday, to third base. Both scored when right fielder Eric Earnhart hit another single to give Ball State a 4-3 lead, which would be the final score.
Ball State took a 2-0 lead with RBI singles by center fielder Mike Sullivan and Pestle early in the game, but Ohio took the lead when, with the score 2-1 in the fourth, Ohio's Bryant Witt and Matt Stiffler drove in two runs.
Earnhart and Sullivan led the Cardinals with two hits, and Singleton, Rogers, Pestle and Gard added a hit. Rogers extended his hitting streak to 12 by going 5-for-10 over the weekend.
The Cardinals jumped out to another 2-0 lead in game two. First baseman Brad Miller hit an RBI single in the first and a sacrifice fly in the third to score catcher Matt Singleton.
"Anytime you play at home, you like to take two out of three from anybody," Miller said. "That was a key that we were working for all season, to win every series."
Through five innings, starting pitcher Tyler Pritchard cruised with three singles allowed. But in the sixth, four singles scored two runs with one out to tie the game. Pritchard was replaced by Kory Bucklew, who allowed two more runs on a fielder's choice play and sacrifice fly.
"If we take away two innings of this series, we might have won all three games," Beals said. "We were close to being swept, too, if we didn't pull out game one."
The bats cooled for Ball State from there, managing only two hits the rest of the game. One of those hits brought the deficit to within one when Justin Rogers hit his first collegiate home run over the right field wall in the eighth. Ohio won 4-3.
"It was inside, thigh-high, pretty much a lefty's favorite pitch to hit," Rogers said. "I just got it up in the air and it went out."
Ball State did load the bases in the seventh, but second baseman Kyle Dygert hit a pop up back to the mound, ending any threat.
Singleton and Rogers led Ball State with two hits, and Sullivan, Miller and Gard also had a hit.
The Cardinals dropped a 9-6 game on Sunday. Ohio jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third but two wild pitches by starting pitcher Kurt Smith and two walks helped the Cardinals score four runs in the bottom of the inning.
The Bobcats tied the game in the fourth and scored five more in the fifth. Three of those runs came with the bases loaded on a sacrifice fly by Jared Willis and a two-run double by Chris Klimko. Ball State scored a run in the bottom of the inning but got on base only once more the rest of the way, on a walk.
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