Maybe they have some life after all

The Braves finally stopped their poor play at home against bad teams by beating the Rockies 8-1. Jair Jurrjens pitched 7 innings and only gave up the one run while scattering 3 hits and striking out 8 batters. Manager Bobby Cox switched the lineup around a little bit and it seemed to work out well. Yunel Escobar was moved from second to lead-off and was 1 for 4. Casey Kotchman was moved from sixth to second and was 3 for 5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Kelly Johnson was moved from lead-off to sixth and responded by going 3 for 4 with two runs scored. I think he was pressing a little bit while batting in the lead-off spot, so this move may work out well for the team as a whole. The teams play game three of this series at 710p tonight. Javier Vasquez will pitch for the Braves.

The Ball State baseball team starts play in the MAC tournament this afternoon against Eastern Michigan at 4pm. Brenden Stines will get the call for the Cardinals. He is 4-4 with a 5.08 ERA on the season. In other BSU news, the All-MAC baseball teams were announced, with three Cardinals getting first team nods. Zach Dygert, Jeremy Hazelbaker and Kolbrin Vitek were all given first team honors. Ian Nielsen was honored on the second team.

Brownsburg started off slow (again) last night against Zionsville. ZVille had a 4-0 lead into the 5th inning when walks and timely hits helped BBurg take the lead. After two walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch, and another walk loaded the bases in a 4-1 game, Justin Hartnagel tied the game with a bases-clearing double to tie the score. Alex McGowan singled home Hartnagel to give the Dogs the lead. Ben Blystone added some insurance with a two-run homer in the 6th. Dalton Wentz had a RBI single in the 7th to account for BBurg's 8th run. The final score was 8-5. McGowan started on the mound and gave up 4 runs in 4 innings, but hung in there and got the win. Wentz pitched the final 3 innings for his 7th save of the year. The Dogs will go to Harrison today to finish the suspended game from Friday. The game is tied 2-2 in the 11th inning. BBurg is still one game behind Westfield in the HCC as Westfield swept Noblesville over the past two days. Conference play ends on Friday, so we need to win the rest of our games this week and get a little help from Lafayette Jeff against Westfield on Thursday and Friday.