Ninth-inning rally propels baseball team to series win over Ball State
Baseball scored four runs in the ninth inning to win the series finale over Ball State, 6-3, Sunday afternoon.
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, sophomore Cody Leichman was hit by a pitch to start the inning. After a sacrifice bunt by junior Noel Santos got him to second, a pinch-hit single by sophomore Joe Houlihan tied the game at three.
"Houlihan has been working really hard," said head coach Steve Jaksa. "He's just starting to get more at-bats in the last couple weeks. We used a lot of guys today and that ended up being a huge hit."
A single by sophomore Nick Regnier and a walk by freshman Logan Regnier loaded the bases for senior Jordan Adams, who doubled to right-center field clearing the bases to make it 6-3.
Freshman Jason Gamble worked a perfect ninth to secure a much-needed, series-winning victory.
CMU’s bats were quiet on Saturday, losing 6-1.
A solo home run by freshman Neal Jacobs was all the Chippewas could muster against BSU pitcher Scott Baker, who improved to 8-0 on the season.
"He's having a great year so far," Jaksa said. "We didn't have a lot of opportunities to score and the ones we did we couldn't get it going. He was pretty good. He had really good command and was able to throw a lot of different pitches in different counts. He forced us to get out of our approach a little bit."
Sophomore Taylor Lehnert started the game for CMU as he gave up four runs on nine hits over six innings.
The Chippewas’ bats were anything but quiet on Friday, when CMU rolled to a 19-2 victory. The Chippewas sent all nine men to the plate in one inning twice in the game.
With the game tied at two, CMU broke things wide open with a nine-run sixth inning to make it 11-2. It would add a pair of runs in the seventh and five in the eighth to make it 18-2.
Sophomore pitcher Jordan Foley struck out seven Cardinals and gave up two runs on six hits over seven strong innings of work to improve to 6-1 on the season.
"We were able to break loose with a series of really good at-bats," Jaksa said. "We blew it open and we just kept on going and that's what you have to do. Friday was a very good day offensively for us."
Nick Regnier went 4-for-6 with four RBIs to lead the Chippewas at the plate, while Jacobs finished 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and Santos 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Sophomore Pat MacKenzie was 1-for-4 while Adams had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
CMU returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Calvin College at 4:05 p.m. On Wednesday, the Chippewas take on Michigan State at Comerica Park in Detroit. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
