Ball State baseball wins 1st Mid-American Conference regular season title since 2014
OXFORD, Ohio — There were tears in Rich Maloney's eyes.
During the last inning of Ball State's 13-2 victory over Miami (Ohio) — with the Cardinals' first Mid-American Conference regular season championship since 2014 all but secured — the head couldn't help but get emotional as he reflected.
He reflected on previous teams who he thought deserved to have the moment this team was about to have. Since Maloney returned to Ball State in 2013, the Cardinals have consistently been atop the MAC. But, despite the on-field success year in and year out, championships have largely eluded the Cardinals.
Last season, Ball State finished second in the league. There was no MAC Tournament in 2021 and the Cardinals were just outside the 64-team field selected to play in the NCAA Tournament. In 2020, COVID-19 canceled the season. Ball State finished second in 2018 and 2019, too, a game behind the eventual MAC regular season champion both times.
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After the final out Saturday, a ground ball to third base, Nate Dohm threw his glove in the air. The freshman pitcher was mobbed by his teammates as they exchanged hugs and dumped water on Maloney, who you wouldn't have been able to make out from the players jumping in unison if he didn't have a different jersey number on.
"It’s been a long time coming because we’ve been really, really good and I thought about — this whole week I’ve been reflecting, well actually much of this year reflecting on the players the last couple years who didn’t get a chance to get a ring and who were really good," Maloney said. "It really saddened me. When you talk about that last inning, it was a reflection and tears were in my eyes because I knew we were going to get it at that point and you could feel it."
Ball State (38-17, 32-7 MAC) entered the weekend a half game behind Central Michigan. After sweeping the Chippewas three weeks ago, the Cardinals split a series with Ohio last weekend and fell back into second place in the league. But the Chippewas lost the first game of their series with Toledo. Ball State swept Miami.
The Cardinals last won the MAC regular season title in 2014. In four of the last five full seasons, they finished second in the league (2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021). Each time, less than three games separated them from the regular season title.
Of course, this year's championship came down to the last game of the regular season.
"I’ve been here for four years and we’ve fallen a couple games short every year," senior Ryan Peltier said. "I’ve seen this happen for other teams and it was really special to do it with a group of guys that I worked hard with the past couple years. And, this year, for the guys who I played with before me that didn’t get a chance to do it, it was really special to get that done today for the program.”
Ball State batted around the order, scoring six runs in the first inning before Miami had a chance to hit. Freshman Hunter Dobbins brought in fifth year Amir Wright on a sacrifice fly, junior Zach Cole brought in fifth year Trenton Quartermaine on a fielder's choice, junior Adam Tellier hit an RBI double while Peltier (1-for-3, three RBIs) hit a three-run home run.
The Cardinals' strong hitting effort continued. Quartermaine (2-for-3, two RBIs) brought in Wright on a double and came around to score on a wild pitch in the second inning. Cole (2-for-4, three RBIs) launched a solo home run to right center in the fifth. In the sixth, Quartermaine (sac fly), fifth year Nick Powell (RBI single) and Cole (2-RBI double) extended Ball State's lead to 11 (13-2).
On the mound, Ball State was equally as dominant.
Dohm pitched a complete game, striking out 13 batters while allowing four hits, two walks and two earned runs. Miami, which left four runners on base in the game, saw its only two runs come on a single off the bat of Billy Kopicki in the third inning.
"Everyone started clapping and I told myself I had to stay calm, stay collected, just throw it in the zone," said Dohm, reflecting on the final out. "(I) threw two fastballs for strikes and then I threw a breaker. I wanted to get it a little more down but it got the job done and I saw them throw across the infield. I knew we won it, tossed my glove up and just started celebrating with the boys.”
Ball State entered the season with questions surrounding its pitching staff, it succeeded with a committee approach. It saw some of its top players miss crucial stretches due to injury, it had other players step up. For each obstacle, Ball State found a way to step up.
The Cardinals didn't lose a single MAC series. They won 82.1% of their conference games and barely pulled out the conference title. After years of frustration, years of coming so close, the victory was even more gratifying.
"This moment's special," Maloney said. "They can't take it away from us. These boys have earned a championship ring and you really had to earn it at 32-7. ... But we all want to get to the NCAA Tournament. That's the goal."
With the win, Ball State clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming four-team MAC Tournament (May 25-28), which will be played in Muncie. Ball State is 18-4 at home this season. Central Michigan (38-16, 30-7 MAC) will be the No. 2-seed while Toledo (32-23, 23-16 MAC) and Ohio (29-22, 21-15 MAC) clinched the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively.
If Ball State wins the MAC Tournament, it will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2006.
2022 MAC Baseball Championship Bracket
UPDATED: 2022 MAC Baseball Championship Game Times for Wednesday, May 25th have been adjusted.
No. 2 @CMUBaseball v. No. 3 @ToledoBaseball, 10:30 a.m.
No. 1 @BallStateBB v. No. 4 @Ohio_Baseball, 4 p.m.#MACtion ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/qmytn0sJiE— #MACtion (@MACSports) May 21, 2022
Wednesday, May 25
Game 1 (10:30 a.m.) — No. 2 Central Michigan vs. No. 3 Toledo
Game 2 (4 p.m.) — No. 1 Ball State vs. No. 4 Ohio
Thursday, May 26
Game 3 (10:30 a.m.) — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser
Game 4 (4 p.m.) — Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner
Friday, May 27
Game 5 (12:30 p.m.) — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser
Saturday, May 28
Game 6 (12:30 p.m.) — Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner
Game 7 (if necessary) — Repeat of Game 6
Robby General covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high school sports for The Star Press. Contact him via email at rgeneral@gannett.com or on Twitter @rgeneraljr.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State baseball wins 1st MAC regular season title since 2014
