LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was almost a fairy-tale comeback for the Ball State University baseball team.
I can’t describe the feeling I had when I walked out of the press box after Matt Singleton struck out to end the game. As a journalist, it is hard to be an impartial observer, especially when you’re covering your school’s team for the school newspaper, but you have to do your best.
I was jittery all through the eighth inning of Sunday’s game, with dreams of the improbable comeback over one of the SEC’s best teams.
Ball State had its chances, but in the end, our pitching failed when we needed it the most. Nine of the University of Kentucky’s 12 runs in the game were with two outs. But give credit to the Wildcats, they have put up a lot of runs this year, and they showed why. Sunday’s game was the 19th time this season it has scored 10 or more runs.
I really thought we were going to tie it up in the eighth inning with Dygert batting and the bases loaded. At that point, he was 3-for-4. After drawing the count to 3-2, Dygert unfortunately popped up weakly to the shortstop.
Regardless, Ball State’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 37 years will be one to remember, even without the desired result.
The jittery-ness for myself was much worse during the eighth and ninth innings of Friday’s game with Kentucky. The Cards missed some opportunities to score early and starting pitcher Ben Snyder was keeping the UK hitters off-balance. When Rogers hit that two-run single to give BSU the lead, it was pure adulation. With Snyder getting out of the eighth inning and then Kyle Heyne slamming the door shut in the ninth, it let the rest of this regional know that Ball State was for real.
The biggest highlight was obviously the chance to witness the biggest victory in the history of Ball State baseball when BSU stunned the Wildcats 3-1 on Friday. Kentucky was ranked eighth in the nation in the Collegiate Baseball poll. It was an unbelievable crowd also, as 3,529 fans showed up for it. Granted, 3,300 were UK fans, but it was a great atmosphere nonetheless.
I can’t say enough about Snyder’s performance on Friday night. He rose to the occasion in the brightest lights possible. He threw eight innings, striking out nine hapless Wildcat batters. Snyder also only allowed four hits (a double and three singles) and one run. The key to Snyder’s success was getting ahead early in the count, dictating the action, as opposed to letting the UK batters take control.
It was a pretty great feeling hearing all the fans and the people in the pressroom talking about how great Snyder pitched. If there ever were a game to put BSU in the spotlight to potential recruits, this would be it.
The total opposite happened on Saturday unfortunately. Playing in the winner’s bracket against the College of Charleston, the Cardinals looked very overmatched. Charleston’s Nick Chigges came into the game third in the nation in ERA (1.44) and pitched like it. He mowed down 13 Ball State batters, a career high. Ball State was swinging at every curveball Chigges was throwing and not even coming close to hitting it. Coming out of the high of Friday night’s win, it looked like they couldn’t match the intensity of Charleston.
Hopefully the events of this past weekend are a stepping-stone to greater things for the Ball State baseball team. The team played as best as they could in arguably the toughest regional in the nation, with the other three teams ranked in the Baseball America Top 25 poll.
Submitted by Phil Friend, sports editor