In a weekend series against Western Michigan (4-15, 2-4 in the MAC), The Ball State Cardinals (14-8, 9-1 in the MAC) won both games. With those two wins, Ball State has won seven straight games, which has given them a very healthy lead in the MAC. Strangely, Ball State was the visiting team on their own field for both games.

The story of the first game was Tyler Schweitzer. He got the start for the Cardinals and pitched a gem, going 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball. He punched out 11 Bronco batters and only allowed three hits.

The offense was a little more sparing, but they did enough to get Schweitzer the win. Nick Powell and CJ Horn knocked in the two runs in the game. Sam Klein notched his sixth save of the season in 1 1/3 innings of work to end the game, 2-0. Klein struck out two and did not allow a hit. Dane Armbrustmacher had a solid day on the mound as well. He went six innings and gave up two runs. He just couldn’t get the run support needed in order to get the win.

The second game featured a lot more offense from both teams. A first inning triple off the bat of Zach Lane gave Ball State an immediate two-run lead. BSU would score three more in the top of the third to make it a 5-0 ball game. The top of the fourth was more of the same as the Cardinals pushed four more runs across, three of those coming on a home run by Adam Christianson.

The Broncos were not going down quietly, however, as they scored four in the bottom of the fourth. They had a chance to do even more damage, but they left the bases loaded.

The top of the fifth was more offense for the Cardinals. Lane was the one to circle the bases this time, as he hit a round tripper to increase the lead to 11-4. Both teams would tack on one more run in the game.

Ryan Brown came out of the bullpen after the Broncos scored their fifth run and was unhittable. He went 3 1/3 innings of relief and struck out nine batters and didn’t allow a run. Only one of the Bronco batters he got out didn’t strike out. Ball State won that game 12-5.

BSU has a four game series this weekend against Toledo (11-11, 6-5 in the MAC).

Other series to look for

Miami (8-13, 5-6 in the MAC) at Northern Illinois (4-16, 4-5 in the MAC)

Akron (6-15, 5-7 in the MAC) at Bowling Green (3-16, 1-9 in the MAC)

Western Michigan at Eastern Michigan 8-13, 4-4 in the MAC)

Ohio (11-8, 5-3 in the MAC) at Central Michigan (10-10, 5-1 in the MAC)

UConn (16-4 overall) at Kent State (8-10, 4-5 in the MAC)