Before the Ball State Cardinals (11-10, 1-5 MAC) made the short trip to Indianapolis to face off with the Butler Bulldogs (8-9), they found themselves in the midst of a 4-game skid following consecutive losses to Bowling Green and Valparaiso.
After displaying their 2nd-ranked MAC (Mid-American Conference) offense early inside Bulldog Field, the Cardinals left with a 7-6 victory.
The Cardinals' bout against Butler had a very similar start to their loss against Valparaiso on March 19. Ball State gained an early five-run lead in both contests, but unlike their loss to the Beacons, the Cardinals' potent offense and steady pitching from senior starting pitcher Will Jacobson allowed them to close out their game against the Bulldogs.
“We scored runs yesterday, but we haven’t been able to get true five-inning starts very often,” said head coach Rich Maloney. “Today was probably just the fourth one we’ve gotten this season.”
Inconsistent pitching has proved to be a consistent problem for Ball State over its last eight games, but this wasn’t the case for the Cardinals today. Jacobson pitched for four scoreless innings to start the game, giving up one run before being substituted out for freshman Zach Kwasny in the sixth inning.
“Will was fantastic, and we really needed that,” Maloney said. “We were kind of in a funk; we needed a superlative outing and we got it (from Jacobson).”
Kwasny pitched the next 3.1 innings for the Cardinals, allowing a total of five runs. To finish the game, Ball State sent in their graduate closer, Tanner Knapp, who struck out the final two Bulldog batters to help the Cardinals avoid extra innings in Indianapolis.
“It was really good to have Tanner Knapp back and for him to get that save,” Maloney said. “We had one walk and 12 Ks, and that is superlative.”
Scoring was a joint effort from Ball State, who led throughout the entire game. Sophomore Blake Bevis paced the Cardinals with three RBIs, backed up by the bats of junior Hunter Dobbins and senior Michael Hallquist, who contributed two RBIs and one RBI, respectively.
Ball State baseball returns for a three-game MAC conference set starting Friday, March 22, when they travel to Toledo, Ohio, to take on the Rockets.
Contact Nick Shelton with comments via email at nicholas.shelton@bsu.edu or on X @NickS9954
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