After dropping the first game of a doubleheader against Central Michigan University 12-8, Ball State University baseball coach Greg Beals challenged his team to end its five-game losing streak and get back on track in the Mid-American Conference.
The motivation worked and Ball State (16-17) played a close to flawless game, winning 12-4. The win prevented the Cardinals from being swept for the second weekend in a row and kept them in a tie with the Chippewas (17-21) for second place in the MAC West Division at 6-7.
"I told them your back's against the wall," Beals said. "I told them to come out swinging and to be smart as competitors."
Ball State lost on Friday 9-6 and lost its second MAC series of the year. In each of the first two games, the host fell behind by six runs late in the game and was unable to overcome the deficit. Starting pitchers Brad Piatt and Kolbrin Vitek each lost and failed to go past the fifth inning.
Central Michigan took advantage of the friendly hitting environment of Ball Diamond to rack up 34 hits in the first two games of the series. On Friday, the Chippewas set a season-high with 18 hits. Piatt allowed 10 hits himself but all were singles.
Ball State had 22 hits in the first two games but was unable to turn them into runs. Central Michigan used a bevy of left-handers to keep the Cardinals off balance at the plate, including Friday's starting pitcher Steve Teno.
Teno pitched six innings before running into trouble in the seventh inning. Freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen said the senior left-hander had effective offspeed pitches.
"It was a deceiving throw," Nielsen said. "His changeup was really good."
Six of the 10 pitchers Central Michigan used throughout the weekend were left-handed, including all three starters. Ball State has four left-handed pitchers on its roster and freshman Justin Warrington is unavailable due to a shoulder injury.
The Cardinals were able to jump on freshman starting pitcher Trent Howard (2-2) in the second game of the doubleheader. Howard allowed four runs on five hits in three innings.
Senior Brenden Stines had the best outing from any starting pitcher during the weekend. Stines pitched seven innings in the second game of the doubleheader for the Cardinals. He allowed one run on two hits in his longest start of the season.
"It was about making quality pitches at the right time," Stines said. "I scrapped my curveball early this season, but I threw it today and threw it well."
Beals said the start was Stines' best of the season.
"Brenden's been getting better and better," Beals said. "If he can throw his breaking ball for strikes he's very tough for opposing teams."
Stines also benefited from the Cardinals' best offensive game of the series. Vitek and junior catcher Zach Dygert each went 4-for-5, and junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker went 3-for-3 with two walks. Dygert drove in three runs, Vitek added three doubles and Hazelbaker had two doubles and a home run.
Hazelbaker went 7-for-12 with eight runs, three RBI, two home runs, three doubles and four stolen bases on the weekend. Hazelbaker raised his MAC-best batting average from .426 to .440.
Vitek went 9-for-14 with seven runs and six RBI on the weekend. Nielsen hit two home runs and drove in eight runs.
Ball State also had one of its better defensive weekends, committing three errors. All came in the first game of the doubleheader, when the Chippewas made five.
"Anytime we can play a clean game it's good to see," Beals said. "[Defense] has been our Achilles' heel. If we get that going we're going to be a better team and a tough team to beat."
Despite the positives from the weekend, the Cardinals dropped a game further back from the West-leading University of Toledo. Toledo took two games of its series at Northern Illinois University, putting it two games ahead of Ball State and Central Michigan.
"You've got to take advantage every time you play," Beals said. "I was hoping if we could have got both games we could have made a move to the top of the division, but we're sitting middle of the pack."
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