Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

The Braves beat the DBacks last night 4-3. Yunel Escobar hit a sac fly in the bottom of the ninth to give Mike Gonzalez the win after he blew the save in the top of the ninth. Javier Vasquez pitched well throwing 7 innings and striking out 10. Chipper Jones had a solo homer to give Atlanta a 3-2 lead before Arizona's Stephen Drew hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth. Omar Infante had 2 hits to raise his average to .341. Jo Jo Reyes was taken out of the starting rotation and moved to the bullpen. Top prospect Kris Medlen was called up from AAA Gwinnett to pitch in Reyes' spot in the rotation. I guess they didn't want to start the roster clock on Tommy Hanson just yet. The teams play tonight at 710p. Kenshin Kawakami will pitch for the Braves.

The Ball State Cardinals beat Toledo 8-6 to clinch the MAC West title and a #2 seed in the MAC tournament. This is the 7th time in the last 11 years that BSU has won the MAC West baseball title. Brad Piatt threw 5 strong innings and Tom Mueller and Aaron Hammons threw 4 innings with no earned runs out of the bullpen. The Cards scored 2 in the 6th and 1 in the 7th to take the lead. Jeremy Hazelbaker scored his 72nd run of the season to break the single-season record held by MLBer Larry Bigbie. The two teams finish the regular season today at 1pm. It will be senior day for the Cardinals.

Brownsburg played at Harrison last night, however they had to stay in Lafayette until around midnight due to the tornado warnings, hail, and heavy rain. I don't have a score of the game, but when I do I will post it.

Blowout wins for everyone

The Braves had the day off Thursday. They host Arizona tonight. Javier Vasquez will pitch for the Braves. Atlanta is 2 games behind the Mets in the NL East.

Ball State beat Toledo 15-6 to move into a tie in the MAC West. Brownsburg's TJ Baumet led the offense with 2 home runs (#11 and 12 for the season) and 5 RBI. Kolbrin Vitek had a homer and 4 RBI for the Cardinals. The game was put away with the 10-run third inning that BSU put on the board. Brenden Stines threw 6 innings only giving up 3 earned runs to get the win. The two teams play on Friday and Saturday. Ball State needs to win one of those games to win the MAC West and become the #2 seed in the MAC Tournament.

Brownsburg beat Harrison last night 10-5. Matt Duncan pitched the entire game to get the win. The Bulldogs put 6 runs on the board in the second inning thanks to 3 errors by Harrison. The game scheduled against Plainfield tonight has been canceled and the Dogs will travel to Harrison to play a 530pm game.

It's a crazy game

The Braves beat the Mets in 12 innings yesterday by the score of 8-7. 42 players got into the game, including 8 pitchers for each team. Jo Jo Reyes had a rough start for the Braves allowing 5 runs in 3 innings. I think it may be time to get some fresh blood up from the minors to replace him, you know, somebody like number-one prospect Tommy Hanson who has 57 Ks in 40 innings at AAA Gwinnett. The bullpen kept us in this game, only allowing 2 runs in the final 9 innings. Martin Prado homered in the top of the 12th to get the win for the Braves. Garrett Anderson had 3 hits and 3 RBI to continue his hot streak since coming back from injury. The Braves have the day off today before hosting Arizona this weekend.

Ball State hosts Toledo in a three-game series starting today that will decide the MAC West title. Game time is 300p, assuming the rain holds off. Brenden Stines gets the start for the Cardinals.

Brownsburg was rained out yesterday. No make-up date was given. Brownsburg is scheduled to host Harrison tonight at Mary Beth Rose Park. BBurg then will host Plainfield on Friday. Harrison has a double header scheduled on Saturday and both teams have 4 conference games next week. It may be a tough game to squeeze into the schedule, but I'm sure they will figure out a way. When they do, I will let you know.

Just like Monday, except it was the opposite

On Monday, the Mets' Johan Santana threw well, but did not get any run support and the bullpen let him down. On Tuesday night, Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens threw well (2 runs in 7 2/3 innings), but the Braves only scored three runs and the bullpen allowed runs in the 9th and 10th innings to lose the game 4-3. The bottom of the 10th inning was especially crappy. The first two batters were retired by Atlanta reliever Jeff Bennett. The Jose Reyes got an infield single and stole second. The next batter was intentionally walked. Then then next two batters were walked un-intentionally and the game was over. Brain McCann had 3 hits and is definitely seeing the ball better with his new glasses. The teams play this afternoon at 110p. Jo Jo Reyes will pitch for the Braves.

The Ball State Cardinals lost both games of a double header at Michigan. The scores were 8-5 and 5-2. Tim Issler had 3 hits in game one. Freshman Cal Bowling was ripped up in his 2 innings of pitching, giving up 7 runs. In game two, the pitching was great only giving up 2 earned runs, but the fielding reared its ugly head again and gave up 3 unearned runs. While it would have been good to get a win against Michigan, these games didn't really matter for either team as neither will make the NCAA tournament unless they win the conference tourney. BSU has three big games starting Thursday when they host Toledo. The winner of this three game series will win the MAC West and be a top two seed in the MAC Tourney.

Brownsburg got beaten up early and could not claw back, losing to Center Grove 8-5. Center Grove scored 6 runs in the first inning off of freshman Isaac Sampen. Kohl Bennett relieved Sampen and threw 5 innings only giving up 2 runs. Ben Blystone had 2 hits and 2 RBI including a home run. The homer was his 5th of the season and the third straight game that he has hit a home run. He has had an RBI in 5 straight games and is batting .471 on the season with a current 15-game hitting streak. Joel Stucker had a double and 2 RBI. The Bulldogs travel to Lafayette tonight to face HCC foe Harrison.

Thank you, New York

The Mets gave a game away last night allowing the Braves to win 8-3. The Braves scored 5 unearned runs on 2 New York errors and Mets pitcher Johan Santana got no run support once again. Santana has a 0.78 ERA and is 4-2 on the season. That reminds me of a time when Greg Maddux was pitching for the Braves and he would not get run support, but he would win games 2-1 and 1-0 instead of taking a loss. Matt Diaz led the Atlanta offense with 3 hits and 2 RBI including the go-ahead single in the 7th. Casey Kotchman continued his great week by having 2 hits and 2 RBI. In his last 7 games, he is batting .423 (11-26) with 4 doubles and 10 RBI. Derek Lowe pitched well with 2 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings to get his NL-leading 5th win of the season. The Braves are 1.5 games behind the Mets in the NL East. The teams play tonight at 710p. Jair Jurrjens will pitch for the Braves.

Ball State goes to Michigan to play the Wolverines in an abbreviated double-header. Both games will be scheduled for 7 innings. Michigan head coach Rich Maloney was the BSU coach from 1996-2002. After today, BSU has 3 games remaining this season. Those games are against Toledo and whoever wins that series will win the MAC West title.

Brownsburg takes its #6 state ranking and #23 national ranking to Center Grove tonight, starting a stretch of 4 games in 4 days. The Dogs play HCC foe Harrison on Wednesday and Thursday and host Plainfield on Friday.

Former Angels lead Braves to victory

The Braves beat the Phillies yesterday 4-2 behind the offense of Casey Kotchman and Garrett Anderson who both played on the Angels last season. Kotchman had 3 hits and 3 RBI to raise his average to .312 while Anderson had 2 hits. Kenshin Kawakami got the win, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings. He finally got some run support in this one. The Braves are 2.5 games behind the Mets for the division lead. They have a three-game series at New York starting today. It should really be a good game tonight. Derek Lowe pitches for the Braves and Johan Santana will pitch for the Mets. Since both of these pitchers are on my fantasy team, I am hoping for a 1-0 game.

Ball State swept Northern Illinois with a 8-6 victory yesterday. Kolbrin Vitek got the win, pitching 5 innings an giving up 3 runs. Zach Dygert had 2 hits and 2 RBI, including a home run. With Toledo's loss, BSU is now one game behind Toledo in the MAC West with a big showdown this Thurs-Fri-Sat against the Rockets. Whichever team wins the three-game series will win the MAC West. BSU has a double-header at Michigan on Tuesday.

Former Brownsburg pitcher Lance Lynn has been promoted to Double-A Springfield in the St Louis Cardinals organization. Lance sailed through his first game, pitching 5 innings of shutout baseball. Yesterday, he pitched well through 5 innings, but ran into a little trouble in the 6th. He ended up only giving up 2 earned runs out of the 7 that he was responsible for. Through two games, he has a 1.69 ERA with 9 Ks in 10 2/3 innings.

I got that "Boom Boom Pow"

The Braves beat the Phillies 6-2 behind an awesome pitching performance by Javier Vasquez. Vasquez gave up 2 runs in 7 2/3 innings only allowing 4 hits and striking out 7. Brian McCann is definitely back from his eye infection as he had three hits, including a two-run homer. Yunel Escobar also had a two-run homer. The two teams play today at 1235p. Kenshin Kawakami will pitch for the Braves. He really needs a good outing today as he has been struggling the past few starts. It would help him if Atlanta would score some runs for him as his run support is 3.07 runs per 9 innings.

Ball State beat Northern Illinois 9-1. Brendan Stines pitched a whale of a ballgame. He threw 7 innings, allowing only one unearned run on three hits and striking out 11. Zach Dygert had 3 hits and 3 RBI. Dygert and Ian Nielsen hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning to put the game away for good. BSU is 2 games behind Toledo in the MAC West with one game remaining against NIU and 3 left against Toledo at home.

Brownsburg beat Lafayette Jeff on a weird and windy day at Mary Beth Rose Park. Brownsburg started the scoring with home runs by Ben Blystone and Tucker Barnhart to take a 5-0 lead. However, Jeff hit two home runs of their own in the third combined with a barrage of hits to take a 7-5 lead. The Bulldogs fought back with single runs in the 4th and 5th innings to tie the game. Then BBurg finally got to Jeff's starter and ran up 7 runs in the 6th inning to win 14-7. Blystone ended the game with 3 hits, Barnhart had 4 RBI, and Joel Stucker had 3 hits. Matt Duncan pitched 6 innings to get the win. Brownsburg is still tied with Westfield atop the HCC standings, with Noblesville one game behind those two teams. Brownsburg travels to Center Grove on Tuesday for a 5pm game.