Defeating the USI Screaming Eagles, Ball State opened up a tightly contested game after a seven-run 7th inning lifted the Cardinals to a 10-4 victory.
The Cardinals made the trip to southern Indiana for a single game against USI ahead of their upcoming 3-game weekend series against Jacksonville.
“We really didn’t play very well,” head coach Rich Maloney said. “What good teams do is they find ways to win when they don’t play very well, and that’s what we did today.”
What began as an initially close contest became a blowout in the 7th inning after senior Decker Sheffler hit a deep ball off the wall for an inside-the-park home run that sent three runners home.
“We grinded it out and got hits when we needed them,” Maloney said. “The guys, to their credit, came back and found a way to win a game pretty conceivingly after a rough start.”
Freshman Keegan Johnson was named the Cardinals starting pitcher for the day but was pulled early in the 3rd inning after giving up four early runs despite only allowing two hits in 2.1 innings pitched.
Taking the next highest portion of the pitch count was junior Lucas Letsinger. The Indiana University Kokomo transfer pitched to the 7th inning, collecting a team-high three strikeouts and allowing zero runs.
“We got some good relief pitching today,” Maloney said. “Lucas’s effort gave our team a chance to catch up in the third.”
The offense oscillated between the two squads early, with the Screaming Eagles holding a 3-run advantage over the Cardinals in the bottom of the 3rd inning before Letsinger was substituted in.
The game's defining moment came in the 7th inning. Ball State began the frame down by a single run and ended the inning ahead by six runs after an explosive batting showcase led by Sheffler.
Sophomore Blake Bevis got the hitting started for the Cardinals with a double to left field that sent junior Matthew Gonzalez home. The next hit came from senior Nick Gregory, who sent Bevis home on a fielder’s choice.
Then came the play that broke the game wide open.
After finding himself with two quick strikes, Scheffler hit foul ball after foul ball until finally blasting one out to deep right field against the wall, which resulted in a three-run inside-the-field home run.
Before the inning’s conclusion, junior Michael Hallquist and Gonzalez both doubled for another pair of runs to put Ball State ahead, 10-4.
Sophomore pitchers Brady Owens and Owen Quinn closed the game for Ball State, allowing zero combined runs through the final two innings.
“We have to get better at our situational baseball,” Maloney said. “All the little things that we take pride in, we really haven’t done at all, and yet we find ourselves 5-3. It is promising for our future, but we have to get better.”
Ball State baseball returns on Friday, Mar. 1, when the Cardinals travel to Jacksonville, Florida, for a 3-game series against the Dolphins.
Contact Nick Shelton with comments via email at nicholas.shelton@bsu.edu or on X @NickS9954
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