Sophomore Drey Jameson’s efforts on the mound along with senior John Ricotta’s strength at the plate hand Ball State Baseball a victory over Eastern Michigan, 3-2.
As a child, you’re taught to aim high in most facets of life, but there are some exceptions. What about gas prices? Cholesterol levels? Time spent in traffic? It tends to make people happy when these things are low. The same applies for a pitcher’s earned run average (ERA).
Ball State (21-11, 5-2 MAC) took down Butler (17-13, 1-2 Big East) 12-5 Tuesday behind the performance of a four-man pitching staff.
After winning 10 games in a row, including their first four in Mid-American Conference play, the Cardinals (20-11, 5-2 MAC) dropped the first two games of a weekend series to Central Michigan (23-8, 7-2 MAC) before salvaging the third to avoid a sweep.
Redshirt junior Chase Sebby got the call to pinch hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, and he had an at-bat that shifted momentum in Ball State’s (19-9, 4-0 MAC) 12-4 win over Manchester (7-14, 2-0 HCAC) Wednesday.
After getting rained out Saturday and snowed out Sunday, Ball State (18-9, 4-0 MAC) woke up Monday to some better news. According to the Collegiate Baseball Division I Poll, the Cardinals were ranked 28th in the nation, and they showed why in their 12-5 win over Indiana Kokomo (24-10, 12-3 RSC).
It took 13 innings, but Ball State (17-9, 4-0 MAC) walked away from Friday’s contest with Kent State (10-14, 1-3 MAC) with a 9-8 win, bringing the Cardinals’ win streak to eight games.
Ball State head baseball coach Rich Maloney has an autographed ball in a glass case. Not a baseball, but a basketball. It was a gift from a friend. That friend is John Beilein, head basketball coach at the University of Michigan.
“Anything you can do” seemed to be what Ball State (16-9, 3-0 MAC) was humming in a 14-8 win against Valparaiso (5-16, 0-0 Valley) Wednesday.
In his second at-bat of the bottom of the ninth inning, Blake Dunn doubled home Western Michigan’s (6-16, 0-3 MAC) 15th run of the game and its eighth of the inning. The only problem was Ball State (15-9, 3-0 MAC) scored 20.
Three times in the first four innings senior John Ricotta came up to bat with two outs and runners on base. Three times he came through with an RBI hit. Ricotta finished the game 4 for 5 with four runs driven in, and his performance at the plate highlighted Ball State’s (14-9, 2-0 MAC) 10-3 win over Western Michigan (6-15, 0-2 MAC) Saturday.
With wind gusts blowing upwards of 15 mph to right field, Friday was not an ideal day for pitchers as Ball State (13-9, 1-0 MAC) and Western Michigan (6-14, 0-1 MAC) squared off. Each team connected for a pair of home runs, and the Cardinals wound up on top, 8-5.
Ball State (13-9, 0-0 MAC) walked it off Wednesday after facing an 11-8 deficit in the ninth inning against Purdue Fort Wayne (4-15).
You might as well paint flames on Ross Messina’s bat at this point because in Ball State’s last 11 games, he’s been on fire. The junior transfer out of Seminole State College has batted .422 over that span with five multi-hit games and 12 RBIs.
Dayton (6-9-1, 0-0 A-10) would hold on to beat Ball State (9-9, 0-0 MAC), 5-4, with another pair of matchups between the two coming this weekend.
First pitch: home run. Junior Aaron Simpson led off the home half of Ball State’s (9-8, 0-0 MAC) Friday matchup with Purdue Fort Wayne (4-11, 0-0 Summit) in style. With the wind blowing out to center field, Simpson got the ball in the air and let Mother Nature do the rest.
South Carolina and Florida are hot spots when spring break comes around. That’s exactly where members of Ball State Baseball were the last two weeks, but they weren’t vacationing. They were playing ball.
It may not seem like it with temperatures in Muncie still dipping into the 20s, but Ball State’s spring break is here, and with spring comes baseball. The Cardinals already have seven games under their belt, and they’re making stops in South Carolina and Florida before coming back home after break. As their next game approaches, here’s a few things to keep in mind.
Big weekend for Cardinal athletics as gymnastics, softball and many more picked up big wins on the road and in Muncie. Here's your weekend recap.
Ball State kicked off the season at the Grand Canyon University Classic in Tempe, Arizona, last weekend, and while the Cardinals’ 1-3 showing wasn’t ideal, head coach Rich Maloney said their record could have just as easily been reversed.
