Small tidbits today

The Ball State baseball team plays Michigan in South Carolina today. Brad Piatt has been taken out of the rotation after his 6+ ERA in three starts this year. Cal Bowling moves up to the Friday spot while Morgan Coombs takes Bowling's place as the Saturday starter against Lipscomb. Kolbrin Vitek will get his usual start on Sunday against Illinois. All three opponents this weekend have losing records and Michigan is the only team with a better RPI than BSU. Taking two out of three this weekend would be good, and a sweep would be excellent.

The boys basketball regionals are on Saturday. I will be attending the Hinkle regional where Noblesville will play Perry Meridian and North Central plays Ben Davis. I see Noblesville beating Perry and North Central defeating Ben Davis. I think North Central has enough firepower to beat Noblesville, but Noblesville brings a lot of fans to their games and their student section is the best I have seen in many years. That support could lead the Millers to an upset victory over the #2 Panthers.

A tired Ball State baseball team gets beat by a better team

The Ball State baseball team was playing it's sixth straight game yesterday, got behind 5-0 after 3 innings and couldn't catch up, eventually losing to the College of Charleston 7-4. Derek Grabner got the start for the Cardinals and gave up 5 runs in 3 innings. Scott Brother took over and pitched three scoreless innings while the offense got on track to close the gap to 5-3 after 6 innings. BSU scored one run in the top of the 7th to make the game 5-4, but the Cards gave up 2 in the bottom of the 7th, one unearned run of course, that led to the final score of 7-4. Kory Benbow and Blake Beemer each had two hits for BSU. Their record is now 4-9. The team finally gets a day off on Thursday. They continue their weekend in the Carolinas by playing Michigan, Lipscomb, and Illinois in the Caravelle Resort Classic starting Friday.

The BSU baseball team always makes it interesting

Ball State carried a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the 9th against UNC Wilmington yesterday, gave up 4 runs in the 9th, then rallied in the 11th for a 7-6 victory. The Cardinals started out strong, even though they were playing their 5th straight game in as many days. Starter Brad Piatt gave up 2 runs in 4 innings and long reliever Perci Garner threw 4-2/3 innings and gave up 2 runs but could not close the door in the 9th. The offense pounded out 11 hits, led by Brownsburg's own TJ Baumet's 3 hits and the game-winning RBI in the 11th. The win takes BSU to 4-8 on the season. However, the games do not stop as they travel to College of Charleston for a 5pm game tonight. BSU is 102nd in the RPI while Charleston is 10-3 and ranked 27th in the RPI. BSU has played the 29th toughest schedule in the nation so far this year.

The Ben Davis boys team finally beats Pike

Over the last 10 years, Ben Davis had lost 15 straight games to Pike, including the 5 times that Pike booted the Giants out of the tournament. Last night, however, was different. On a night where the BD girls state championship team was honored, the boys took that inspiration and exorcised their demons (you know, Pike's mascot is the Red Devils, get it?) with a 68-60 victory in the sectional final at Tech. If you thought the Pike game was tough, the Giants now face #2 North Central in game two of the Hinkle regional on Saturday. The Giants have lost seven straight games against the Panthers. But, as we have seen so far in this tourney, you never know what is going to happen and that is why you play the games.

In what was almost a replay of Sunday's game, the Ball State baseball team lost to Coastal Carolina 3-2 by giving up an unearned run in the bottom of the 9th. BSU led 2-1 going into the bottom of the 8th inning before a solo home run tied the game for the Chanticleers. In the 9th, a ground out was followed by an error, a single, a foul out, and a walk to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two outs, a ground ball to third was not converted in time and that fielder's choice led to the winning run. The Cardinal pitching was spectacular again as Kolbrin Vitek started and gave up one earned run in 4 innings. The bullpen gave up 1 earned run in 4-2/3 innings. The offense struggled again as BSU could only muster 4 hits, but did draw 6 walks. The defense committed 3 errors. The Cardinals play at UNC Wilmington today at 4pm.

Errors lead to Ball State's demise once again

In an effort similar to most of last year, BSU gave up 3 runs, all unearned, with 5 errors in a 3-2 loss at #13 Coastal Carolina. Last year, there were at least 8 games where the Cardinals gave up less earned runs than their opponent and lost. It doesn't seem like defense is a priority with the coaches during the recruiting process. Anyway, the poor fielding overshadowed a great pitching performance by Morgan Coombs. Coombs gave up no earned runs in 7-1/3 innings on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. Seth Hobbs pitched to one batter and got a double play to end the 8th inning. On offense, Kolbrin Vitek had 2 hits, a run scored, and a RBI. Vitek is batting .395 on the season with an OPS of 1.229, compared to the team batting average of .274 and OPS of .771. The Cards play 6 games over the next 7 days, starting today with a rematch against Coastal Carolina. Today's game starts at 4pm.

The bad news for Ball State kept on rolling yesterday as the men's basketball team lost their first-round game of the MAC tournament at home against Ohio, 85-77 in overtime. They don't even get to make the trip to Cleveland for the MAC tourney. The Cards finish the season 15-15.

However, there is some good news out of Muncie, as the women's basketball team did defend their home court in the first round of the MAC tournament. They defeated Western Michigan 67-43. The seventh-seeded Cardinals travel to Cleveland to face #2 seed Toledo on Wednesday at noon.

The Ben Davis girls basketball team is really good

Last night, the Ben Davis girls basketball team took a quick lead against Merrillville and never looked back, coasting to a 99-52 victory. The Giants led 30-10 after one period, but had a "tough" second quarter and went into halftime with the same 20 point lead, 42-22. However, as has been the case most of the year, the second half was especially hard for the Giants opponents. BD used a 57-30 second half to shatter the record for most points scored in a girls championship game. The 36 points in the third quarter also set a record as well as the 57 points in a half. It was also the second highest combined point total with 151 points. I'm sure there were many other records set in this game, but that's all I could find.

In the bigger picture, the well-recognized sportsmanship of this team culminated in the Mental Attitude award given to Dee Dee Williams. While playing on the volleyball and basketball teams, Williams also has served as a tutor and has volunteered at her church and retirement homes in her community. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Senior Mentor Program, and has participated in the NCAA Stay in Bounds program.

For the national picture, Ben Davis is ranked second in the USA Today and ESPN Rise rankings behind St Mary's of California. In fact, 4 of the top 5 teams are in Cali. However, none of them will play each other because they are in different divisions. So, BD will have to have help from a huge underdog to clinch a second straight national title. The CA state tournament starts next week, so that will give the Giants something to watch for over the next few weeks.