Have I mentioned bad fielding this week?

The Braves were beaten by the Phillies last night 10-6. Two Atlanta errors led to 4 unearned runs that would have changed the game completely. I said in my previous post that it was going to be an ugly game, and I was right on the money. Jo Jo Reyes lost his ninth straight game, giving up 8 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings. Casey Kotchman had 3 RBI and has been playing well lately. In his last 7 games, he is batting .400 with 5 RBI. Brian McCann had 2 RBI in his return from the DL. The teams play today at 340p. Javier Vasquez will pitch for the Braves.

Ball State beat Northern Illinois 10-6. Brad Piatt held the Huskies in check, giving up 4 earned runs and pitching into the 6th. The bullpen was great throwing 3 2/3 shutout innings and only surrendering 1 hit. Nate Fields had 3 hits and 4 RBI for the Cardinals. Toledo got beat yesterday, so BSU is only 2 games out of the MAC West lead with a three-game series remaining with the Rockets.

Brownsburg got beat by Lafayette Jeff last night, 5-3. Brownsburg had 10 hits and 6 walks, but could only score 3 runs with those 16 runners. BBurg has had a tough time this year scoring runs in most games, especially in clutch situations. The good news is that Westfield also got beat, which leaves BBurg and Westfield in a tie for the HCC lead and Noblesville and Hamilton SE (who beat Westfield on Friday) just a game behind. BBurg and Jeff play this morning at 11am.

Big Series for all teams this weekend

The Braves beat the Marlins yesterday 4-2. Jair Jurrjens was masterful, as usual, giving up 2 runs in 7 innings. Casey Kotchman had 3 hits and 2 RBI. Atlanta has a huge early-season series against the Phillies this weekend. The Braves are 2 games behind the Phillies in the NL East. Jo Jo Reyes will pitch for the Braves and Cole Hamels will pitch for Philly. Both pitchers have struggled this season, so it could be an ugly game. Game time is 705p.

The Ball State baseball team travels to Northern Illinois for a three game series this weekend. BSU is in second place in the MAC West, three games behind Toledo. The Cardinals host Toledo next weekend in a series that could decide the conference division title.

Brownsburg will travel to Lafayette Jeff tonight for a 6pm game. They will host the Bronchos on Saturday at 11am. Brownsburg is tied for the conference lead right now, but have the bottom three teams in the conference to play over the next two weeks. A sweep of Jeff would go a long way towards securing the HCC title.

More bad fielding, but this time it helps

The Braves beat the Marlins last night 8-6. Florida had an error that led to 4 unearned runs in the second inning. Derek Lowe did not pitch well, giving up 6 runs in 5 innings, but he got his 4th win of the season. The bullpen threw four innings of shutout ball. Lately, the starting pitching has been average, but the bullpen is pitching brilliantly. Garrett Anderson came back from the DL with 3 RBI in the game. With Brian McCann able to come back this weekend, we could have our top lineup ready for the Philly series this weekend. The Braves play the Marlins at 1210p this afternoon. Jair Jurrjens will pitch for the Braves.

The Brownsburg baseball team is ranked 23rd in the nation, according to the latest USA Today poll released this morning. They are tied for the conference lead with Westfield with a 8-2 conference record. The Bulldogs are 15-2 overall. BBurg plays Lafayette Jeff (4-6 in HCC) in a Friday/Saturday series this weekend.

Bad fielding all around

The Braves tried to make of game of it in the 9th inning, but ended up falling short and lost to the Mets 4-3. They were down 4-1 with 2 outs in the ninth when Carlos Delgado dropped a fly ball that would have ended the game. The Braves scored two runs after that, but could not tie the game. Kenshin Kawakami threw 5 innings and gave up two earned runs. He threw 113 pitches in those five innings. He has not made it to the 6th inning in his last three starts. The Braves had two errors that led to an unearned run in the ninth. Chipper Jones had his fourth error of the season. Yunel Escobar had three hits and Casey Kotchman had two hits including his 10th double of the season. The Braves play the Marlins today at 710p. Derek Lowe will pitch for the Braves.

Brownsburg hit the ball well last night against Avon and were helped by some poor Avon fielding in a 14-4 win in 6 innings. Brownsburg scored 9 runs in the second inning on a combination of walks, errors, and a few timely hits. Dalton Wentz threw 5 innings and did not give up an earned run. Isaac Sampen pitched the 6th inning. The Dogs play on Friday at Lafayette Jeff at 6pm.

A little bit of good, a little bit of bad

The Braves lost to the Mets last night 6-4. The Mets scored all of their runs on two-run homers, including 2 homers in the deciding 6th inning. Javier Vasquez gave up 6 runs in 6 1/3 innings to get the loss. The bullpen was great again throwing 2+ shutout innings. Chipper Jones had a home run and was the only significant offense for the Braves, who are struggling to score runs lately. The Braves wrap up the series with New York tonight at 710p. Kenshin Kawakami will start for Atlanta.

Brownsburg beat Avon last night 8-3. Matt Duncan pitched a great game, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits with 11 Ks. The three runs were scored on a solo home run and a fluke bad hop single with two outs in the seventh inning. BBurg's Ben Blystone had a two-run single that broke open a tight game in the fourth inning. Brownsburg "batted around" in two innings to overtake the Orioles. The teams play again tonight at Avon at 530p.

Defend the lead

The Braves took a 3-1 lead after five innings, but could not defend it as they gave up 3 runs in the sixth and 3 more in the last three innings to lose 7-5. Jo Jo Reyes continued his hard-luck giving up 4 runs in 5 1/3 innings. He has not won a game in 11 months. His ERA is 5.00 this year, which should be good for at least one win. The Braves play the Mets today. Javier Vasquez will pitch for Atlanta. The Braves are 2.5 games behind in the NL East.

Ball State suffered another close loss to Eastern Michigan, 14-13 in 10 innings. All three games of the series were one-run games. BSU closer Morgan Coombs continued his string of poor outings by giving up a lead-off walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th. Nate Fields had 4 hits and three other Cardinals had 3 hits. BSU is now 21-21 and 9-10 in the MAC.

Brownsburg plays Avon today at 530p at Mary Beth Rose Park. Brownsburg is 13-2 overall and 6-2 in the HCC.

No runs, no wins

The Braves lost to the Astros yesterday 5-1. There was a 1 1/2 hour rain delay that finished the days for both starting pitchers, and since we don't have too many long relievers the result was inevitable. A Chipper Jones error didn't help anything, allowing two unearned runs to score. Jordan Schaefer was moved to the lead-off spot and got two hits. Kelly Johnson was back from his benching and batted 7th and got two hits. Maybe the pressure of the lead-off spot was too much for him. The two teams play today at 135p. Jo Jo Reyes pitches for the Braves and the Astros counter with Wandy Rodriguez, who is pitching very well so far this year.

Ball State survived a 10 inning game yesterday, beating Eastern Michigan 12-11. BSU led by one going into the bottom of the ninth when closer Morgan Coombs gave up the tying run. The Cardinals offense came back in the top of the 10th and scored three runs. However, Coombs made it close one more time as he gave up two runs in the bottom of the 10th before inducing a ground ball to win the game. The teams play today at 105p.

Brownsburg had zero offense yesterday but still split their two games. In the first game, freshman Isaac Sampen held Jasper to 1 run in 6 innings and Dalton Wentz got his 6th save of the year as the Dogs defeated Jasper 2-1. BBurg's only offense came on the solo home runs of Alex McGowan and Mitchell Burton. In the second game, Westfield came out strong by hitting three home runs and scoring 5 in the top of the first. They added 6 more runs in the sixth inning to win 13-0. Brownsburg only had two hits and Westfield pitcher Matt Hammell pitched a great game. The Dogs could not get the outs they needed as all 13 Westfield runs were scored with two outs in the inning. BBurg plays county rival Avon on Monday and Tuesday this week. The Dogs are tied for the HCC conference lead with Westfield.