TicketsMay 10, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio---What started out as a slugfest ended as a pitcher's dual as Ball State scored a 13-9 non-conference win over Cincinnati on Wednesday night at the UC Baseball Stadium. The contest was the Bearcats' final tune-up before a huge weekend series with West Virginia that begins on Friday.
The Cardinals (29-18) used an eight-run second inning explosion to jump to an early 11-3 lead. Brad Miller was one of the many offensive heroes for the Cardinals as he drove in five, due in large part to his 17th home run of the year, a second inning grand slam. Native Ohioans Eric Earnhart and Justin Rogers each added three hits for the visitors, who collected 15 as a team.
Cincinnati (30-19) got two hits each from Josh Harrison, Logan Parker, Jon DeLuca and Adam Yeager on its way to an 11-hit night. Harrison had the big blow when he delivered a third inning grand slam.
"From the third inning on, this was a well played game on both sides," commented UC head coach Brian Cleary. "But the difference was we couldn't overcome a poor pitching performance early. I thought we did a good job of getting back in the game, we just didn't pitch well enough in the beginning."
The game had all the markings of a high scoring affair as Ball State got three runs in the first against UC starter Adam Calez, all coming with two outs. Rogers delivered the first big hit of the inning, lining a two-run double into the left center field gap. Kyle Dygert followed two batters later with an RBI single up the middle.
Cincinnati fought right back in its half of the inning, taking advantage of a pair of Cardinal errors. Parker got UC on the board by lacing a run-scoring single up the middle and going to second on centerfielder Mike Sullivan's error. Jack Nelson would follow with a sacrifice fly that made it 3-2, with LaFringe Hayes rounding out the inning with a RBI single up the middle.
The second inning was nothing short of disastrous for the Bearcats as Ball State strung together seven straight hits to chase Calez. With the bases loaded, Sullivan drove a long single off the wall that scored just one, but kept the bases packed. After Calez fell behind 2-0 to Miller, Cleary took a trip to the mound to calm his hurler. Calez responded with a strike, but Miller had a response of his own, a mammoth grand slam to left. Dygert would later add his second RBI single in as many innings and scored on a wild pitch. Matt Gard drove in the inning's eighth run with an RBI groundout. Ball State tacked on run number 12 in the third when C.J. Webb launched a home run to right against Jake Geglein.
The third inning would be UC's big frame of the night as 10 Bearcats batted on the way to a six-run outburst. With one out, DeLuca singled and came around to score on a Brian Szarmach double to right. After Ryan Schmidt struck out Hayes, he walked Nick Maragas and yielded a single to Adam Yeager that loaded the bases. New pitcher Adam Quinn quickly gave up an RBI single to Muscenti and Harrison's grand slam to make it a 12-9 contest.
After the three-inning scoring spree, both pitching staffs settled down to allow just one run for the remainder of the game. Cincinnati had a chance to make some noise in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs. But winning pitcher Richie Fralick got DeLuca to strike out the end the threat. Ball State got to the final 13-9 score in the seventh when Miller lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Earnhart. The Cards' early pitching struggles were reversed as four relievers held UC's offense to just two hits over the final six innings.
The stage is now set for another big weekend of BIG EAST play as West Virginia visits the UC Baseball Stadium this weekend. The Bearcats are tied for fourth in the league with an 11-10 mark, while West Virginia is just one game back, tied for sixth at 10-11. Game one of the series is set for 8 p.m. on Friday, with a 4 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and a 1 p.m. beginning to Sunday's finale.