Late innings important for Ball State and the Braves

Ball State and Buffalo played a crazy game yesterday afternoon with Buffalo winning 11-7 in 11 innings. BSU led 5-4 after 7 innings when Buffalo scored two in the top of the 8th the lead 6-5. The Cardinals came back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 6. However, in the top of the 9th, Buffalo scored two more runs to take a 8-6 lead. A dramatic two-run homer by BSU's Zach Dygert tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. Buffalo broke through with 4 runs in the 11th and Ball State did not have an answer in the bottom of the inning. TJ Baumet and Cody Elliott each had 3 hits while Dygert had 3 RBI. Kolbrin Vitek started on the mound and threw 5 innings of 1-run ball and struck out 7 batters. The bullpen gave up 9 earned runs in 6 innings. BSU is 16-19 overall and 9-3 in the MAC, one game behind Central Michigan in the MAC West. The Cardinals host a good Indiana State team (23-10) on Tuesday.

The Ball State softball team took a 3-0 lead after one inning, but could not hold on to that lead as they fell to Kent State 6-5. A 5-run fifth inning by Kent State gave them a 6-3 lead after 5 innings. After a scoreless sixth inning, Ball State pushed two runs across in the top of the seventh, but left the tying run on second base. Cardinal pitcher Elizabeth Milian had one of her worst outings of the year, giving up 6 runs in 6 innings while only striking out 4. She is 20-4 this year. The team is now 28-11 and 6-4 in the MAC, a game behind Central Michigan and Northern Illinois in the MAC West. The team hosts a double header with Purdue on Wednesday.

The Braves scratched and clawed their way to a win over the Rockies yesterday thanks to Jason Heyward. With the Braves down a run in the bottom of the ninth, they had the bases loaded and a 2-2 count on the young phenom. Heyward eeked a ground ball through the left side of the infield to score Martin Prado and Brooks Conrad to win the game. Heyward also walked twice in the game and had a Win Probability Added (WPA) of 1.028, which means he contributed more than a game's worth of wins in the game. I don't remember ever seeing a single-game WPA that high. He now leads the majors in WPA with 1.67.