During its match-up with No. 1 seed Western Michigan Thursday in the second round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament, Ball State went into the bottom of the fourth inning with a 4-1 lead.
With two swings of the bat, Western Michigan left the fourth inning with a lead. After a fly out from senior shortstop Michelle Bendewald, Western Michigan junior right-handed pitcher Meredith Whitney blasted a two-run home run to left field to cut the lead to 4-3.
After two consecutive singles from junior first baseman Tara Buchanan and MAC Player of the Year Gracie Barstad, junior left fielder Courtney Rousseau smacked a three-run home run to left center to give the Broncos a 6-4 lead, negating the Cardinals 4-1 lead held earlier in the inning.
After a scoreless fifth inning for both teams, Western Michigan made the score 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning after Barstad smacked a home run to left field.
In the top of the seventh inning, Ball State gave itself a chance to come back. With two outs and nobody on base, senior third baseman Kate Wilczynski and senior center fielder Lisa Rozanski got on base by a single to left field and a hit by pitch. Freshman first baseman Lauren Schroeder, however, popped up to the shortstop to end the game and the hope of a late-inning comeback.
On the day, Ball State had a team batting average of .185 with four runs scored. It also committed three errors in the field.
Coach Craig Nicholson said despite having flashes of good play, Ball State did not play well Thursday.
"I thought we swung at some bad pitches at the plate," Nicholson said. "I wasn't thrilled with the way we played today."
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Audra Sanders picked up her 15th loss on the year after giving up six runs in four innings of work.
Nicholson said Sanders and the rest of the Ball State pitching staff pitched well for the most part. It was Western Michigan hitting good pitches.
"Early in the game, [Sanders] was pretty sharp hitting her spots and doing those kind of things," Nicholson said. "We missed a little bit on a couple of locations and Western Michigan made us pay. But sometimes, they hit quality pitches."
"When you're facing a team that's a pretty good hitting team, you're going to make a really good pitch and they're going to hit it anyway," he said.
Ball State will play the winner of the Miami-Northern Illinois game Friday at 1:20 p.m.
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