Michigan
Ball State
Cardinals Put Halt to Michigan's Series Streak
5/4/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site:Â Muncie, Ind. (Ball Diamond)
Score:Â Ball State 6, Michigan 5
Records:Â U-M (25-21), BSU (31-15)
Next U-M Game:Â Thursday, May 6 -- at Eastern Michigan (Ypsilanti, Mich.), 3 p.m.
MUNCIE, Ind. -- The University of Michigan baseball team saw its perfect series record over Ball State come to an end Tuesday (May 4) as the homestanding Cardinals eked out a 6-5 victory at Ball Diamond. The Wolverines slipped to 25-21 on the season, while the win, BSU's first in 13 tries against U-M, raised the Cardinals' record to 31-15.
After Michigan's Jason Alcaraz (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS) tied up the game 5-5 with a two-run homer in the sixth inning, Ball State pushed across the game-winning run with back-to-back two-out hits in the eighth. Scott French reached on an infield single and came around to score on Shayne Ridley's double to right-center.
Ridley's double, his second of the game, knocked out Wolverine reliever Nick Alexander (Alpena, Mich./Alpena HS), who was tagged with the loss (1-1). Matt Speicher worked the perfect ninth for Ball State to pick up his fifth save. Jeff Randall (1-1), the fourth of five Cardinal hurlers, pitched two innings for the victory.
Michigan got off to a good start as Bobby Scales (Roswell, Ga./Milton HS) smacked his seventh home run of the season, moving into a tie with Alcaraz for the team lead. It marked the third time this year that Scales has led off a game with a round-tripper. He also extended his hitting streak to 10 games, his third double-digit streak of 1999.
The Wolverines managed just five hits, but they made the most of them. In the fourth, Alcaraz doubled and ended up scoring on Bryan Besco's (Westland, Mich./John Glenn HS) groundout, while Brian Bush (Warren, Ohio/Howland HS) reached on an error while sacrificing Alcaraz to third, stole second base and later scored on a balk.
With U-M up 3-1 after three and a half innings, Ball State scored a single tally in the fourth, then got three runs in the fifth, with Larry Bigbie's two-run, inside-the-park homer capping the rally.
David Parrish (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS), the reigning Big Ten Conference Player of the Week, continued his hot streak at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. The sophomore catcher also cut down the only Ball State baserunner who tried to steal.
The Wolverines will play another Mid-American Conference team on Thursday (May 6) as they head across Washtenaw County to face Eastern Michigan in a 3 p.m. contest.
Schedule Note:Â Michigan will play a single game at Eastern Michigan on Tuesday (May 11) at 1 p.m. to replace the canceled Wednesday (May 12) home game against Bowling Green.
