Ball State Baseball built off of their 2-1 performance in Winston-Salem, North Carolina this past weekend by thwarting a comeback attempt from Florida A&M.
The Cardinals (8-5) started out down 2-0 at the bottom of the first inning, but runs from senior catcher Matthew Rivera, junior outfielder Nick Gregory and an RBI single from junior outfielder Casey Turturici that sent senior infielder Adam Tellier across home to put Ball State up 3-2 in the top of the third.
Despite the Rattlers (5-9) tying it up at 3-3 in the bottom of the third, Rivera gave the Cardinals a 5-3 lead in the top of the fifth with a two-run double. However, Florida A&M tied it back up at 5-5.
By the bottom of the sixth, Ball State had gone up 8-3 via an RBI from Gregory that got senior outfielder Logan Flood to home, an RBI single from Tellier that got graduate outfielder Andrew Wilhite to bring in another run and an RBI from Rivera that scored Gregory.
Over the next two innings, the Cardinals scored three more times and were up 11-6 at one point, the Rattlers attempted a comeback in the ninth inning, scoring three times but were denied their chance at a win as Ball State held on for an 11-9 victory.
The Cardinals started senior pitcher Casey Bargo on the mound but wound up playing junior pitcher Will Jacobson, freshman pitcher Blake Bevis, senior pitcher Tanner Knapp and graduate pitcher Ty Weatherly all in relief.
Ball State will be home from March 10-12 as it battles Western Michigan (3-8) in the first taste of Mid-American Conference play of the season and remains home all the way up to a March 22 showdown with Butler (2-10) at Ball Diamond.
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