Miami University
Ball State
Pitching Woes Lead to RedHawk Loss at Ball State
4/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 4, 2010
MUNCIE, Ind. - Seventeen free passes issued were too much for the Miami University baseball team to overcome Sunday afternoon, as Ball State took advantage of the RedHawks' struggling pitching for a 17-8 victory at a sunny Ball Diamond in the series finale. With the loss, Miami (11-15, 1-5 Mid-American Conference) was swept by the Cardinals (11-15, 5-1 MAC), the second straight series sweep for BSU against the RedHawks in Muncie (2006).
Miami hurlers handed out 10 walks and plunked seven batters en route to allowing 17 runs-the most since giving up 19 vs. Ohio on May 9, 2009-with all three totals marking season highs. Freshman starter Mac Thoreson (Knoxville, Tenn.) took the loss (1-3), allowing five runs on four hits in four innings of work with four walks and a quartet of strikeouts. Six RedHawk relievers allowed the remainder of the runs, as BSU crossed home at least once in every inning after Thoreson kept the Cardinals scoreless for the first two frames. Ball State reliever Derek Grabner (1-1) picked up the win, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings with just one hit allowed.
Despite the nine-run defeat, Miami was only out-hit 14-13, as junior second baseman Jon Edgington (Cincinnati, Ohio) went 3-for-5 with his second home run of the series (and the season) and a double while tying a career high with three RBI. Freshman pinch-hitter/first baseman Kevin Bower (Indianapolis, Ind.) finished 2-for-2, including his first collegiate double, for his first multi-hit game in the Red and White. Six different Cardinals had a pair of RBI, led by third baseman Stephen Claypool, who finished 3-for-5 with his second round-tripper of the series and three runs scored. First baseman Ian Nielsen and centerfielder Cody Elliott each had a pair of RBI, hits and runs scored as well, for Ball State.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third, manufacturing a run as second baseman Mitch Widau was hit by a pitch to start the inning, advanced to second on a sac bunt and third on a fly out before a double off the wall in left field by catcher Zach Dygert plated him. Ball State made it 4-0 in the fourth with a trio of solo home runs, including back-to-back jacks by Claypool and Elliott while shortstop T.J. Baumet added the third later in the frame.
Miami went to work in the fifth as senior left fielder Zak Hatfield (Fort Wayne, Ind.) led off with a single and later scored on an RBI single through the right side by Edgington. Sophomore centerfielder Ryan Curl (Columbus, Ohio), who reached on a bunt single, then trotted home when junior right fielder Adam Eaton (Springfield, Ohio) earned a walk with the bases loaded to pick up an RBI, which cut the deficit in half at 4-2. After a strikeout, BSU brought in Grabner, who forced a flyout for the final out with the bases still loaded.
The Cardinals used six of the 10 walks to score seven runs in the bottom of the fifth, despite recording just two singles, as a sac fly scored the first run while a hit by pitch and a walk plated the next two. Starting pitcher Kolbrin Vitek, who batted for himself, smoked a two-RBI single for the next two tallies while a walk and a wild pitch capped BSU's outburst for an 11-2 cushion.
Ball State added four more runs in the sixth to make it a 15-2 ballgame and tacked on another tally in the seventh before the RedHawk attack awoke in the top of the eighth with a five-run frame. Sophomore designated hitter Jordan Jankowski (McMurray, Pa.) led off the inning with a solo blast to right-centerfield, his third longball of the series and sixth of the season, before Bower doubled and later scored, while Edgington capped the spurt with a two-run shot into the trees in left field. Miami would add another run in the ninth on three singles, but it was too little, too late, as the 'Hawks were downed, 17-8.
Miami will stay on the road for its next game as the RedHawks make the short trek to Cincinnati Tuesday for a 3 p.m. contest at Xavier, in the first of three meetings between the teams in 2010.
--MURedHawks.com--
