Having squandered a one-run lead twice in the late innings of Sunday's first game, Miami built a lead in game two much too large for Ball State to erase.
The RedHawks scored 10 times in the fourth inning and cruised to an 11-4 win, earning a split with the Cardinals in this weekend's four-game Mid-American Conference baseball series.
The Cards (21-10, 8-4 MAC) won 3-1 on Friday and 9-8 on Sunday. Miami (15-16-1, 5-3 MAC) took Friday's second game, 10-6.
"Miami's a good club," BSU head coach Greg Beals said. "They're going to win some games. We would have liked to win three out of four, but a split isn't terrible.
In Sunday's first game, Ball State closer John Pettibone blew a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning by yielding a pair of runs after two outs, but James Nowicki's RBI single for BSU forced extra innings.
For Pettibone, who had six saves, it was his first blown save opportunity.
Miami went up again in the eighth when Andi Scheidt's squeeze bunt plated Mike Ferris. Ben Schroeder quickly tied things by drilling the first pitch in the bottom half for his first home run of the season.
Brad Snyder legged out an infield single and moved third on Marc Franz's single. Pinch hitter Matt Singleton's fly out to left then scored Snyder for the winning run.
Franz blasted a solo homer for an early 1-0 lead in the next game, but the RedHawks more than responded in the fourth. Stringing together a double, 10 singles, and two BSU errors, they put the game out of reach.
"I thought we made some good pitches (in that inning)," Beals said. "They squeaked out some of their hits, but we couldn't get out of that inning.
"When you look, it was just that inning that beat us."
Snyder's RBI double and two-run homer only dented the final margin.
Before Friday, Beals had a feeling that struggling senior Brian Lynch would come up with a strong outing.
Brian Lynch justified his feeling by allowing just one run in a complete-game win. He struck out six and didn't walk anyone to improve to 3-3.
Ball State appeared on its way to a win in the second game, breaking a 2-2 tie with four runs in the sixth. Brad Snyder followed Ben Schroeder's RBI walk with a bases-clearing double.
But the RedHawks, who pounded out 16 hits in the game, came back with eight unanswered runs, including five in the bottom of the sixth, for the victory.
Kory Bucklew (2-1) suffered the loss in relief of Jason Paul. On Sunday Pettibone got the win before Andrew Anderson was hammered in the second game.
Over the weekend, Ball State added a game with Anderson University; it will be played at Ball Diamond Tuesday. The Cardinals will then travel to Victory Field Indianapolis for a Wednesday contest with Butler.
"It's always important to come back after a loss," Beals said. "Tuesday's a chance for us to do that."
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