Needing a win before hitting the road for two weeks, the Ball State University baseball team turned to its bench.
Ball State (20-19) defeated IPFW 10-3 without two of its best players Wednesday at Ball Diamond.
Freshman reliever Perci Garner (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings for his first career win, striking out five. Reliever Scott Micinski (0-2) allowed six runs in two innings for the loss.
Freshmen Cody Elliott and Tim Issler each collected two hits and scored twice.
Elliott made his second start in center field, replacing junior Jeremy Hazelbaker who was held out of the game after being hit in the knee Tuesday against Purdue University. Junior catcher Zach Dygert was also given the day off, allowing freshman Aaron Etchison to start.
"The bench players gave us a little bit of a spark," coach Greg Beals said. "Sometimes on days like this when you have to play back-to-back midweek games you need bench players to bring a bit of energy into the game."
Ball State needed the boost after IPFW (9-31) took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning. The Mastodons opened the fourth inning with six straight singles, five coming against reliever Eric Van Matre. Garner came in for the senior and struck a batter out before inducing a ground ball that led to a questionable interference call on a double play. Catcher Devin Taylor slid hard into second baseman Nate Fields as he tried to get the ball out of his glove and was called for interference by first base umpire David Morton.
The Cardinals retook the lead with three runs in the fifth inning. Issler started the rally with a single and scored on Fields' double. Junior right fielder Kory Benbow added a two-out, two-RBI single to give the Cardinals some insurance.
As the lone senior in the lineup, Fields said he felt some pressure to come through.
"I'm pretty confident in all the guys we have in the lineup," Fields said. "I just had to bear down and relax."
Ball State tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly from Issler and freshman left fielder Nathan Koontz's two-run home run.
"Koontz got a big hit there," Beals said. "It kind of helped break the game open for us."
Freshman Cal Bowling started the game and allowed one hit in three innings of work. Garner, Brenden Stines, Tom Mueller and Morgan Coombs combined for six innings of scoreless relief, allowing three hits and striking out seven.
"The pitching staff as a whole was solid," Beals said. "On the mound today we were sharp. Our pitching staff needed a day like today."
Garner led the relief corps to earn his first win since making the transition to baseball from football, where he spent the last two years as a backup quarterback for the Cardinals.
"Perci was as good as he's been all year long," Beals said. "He was throwing hard and he was throwing his slider for strikes. If he pitches like that he's going to be hard to beat."
Garner said he unintentionally threw his slider differently Wednesday.
"I dropped my arm a little bit and didn't throw it as hard," Garner said. "Since the velocity wasn't as high the movement picked up."
After losing 14-6 to Purdue, the Cardinals said Wednesday's win gave them confidence heading into the weekend. Ball State begins a seven-game roadtrip Friday at Eastern Michigan University before coming home to close out the season against the University of Toledo on May 14.
"We got over .500," Garner said. "After losing a game like [Tuesday] it stings you a little bit. Winning like this helped us forget about the loss."
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