March 18, 2012

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - Ball State (14-7) scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to a 9-2 victory over Loyola University Chicago (4-10) this morning at the Miami Invitational.

The Cardinals staked claim to an early lead thanks to two-run home runs off the bats of Amanda Montalto and Amanda Carpenter in the first inning, but Loyola sliced a run off that four-run deficit in the bottom of the second.

Back-to-back walks to Tarran Shaffer and Lauren Zaworski, and Annie Korth getting hit by an Audrey Workman offering, loaded the bags with Ramblers with one out. One batter later, Olivia Bell's infield hit scored Shaffer to make it 4-1, but Loyola was unable to inflict any further damage on Workman that inning.

In the third, Brooke Andresen reached on a two-out double, but Workman worked her way out of trouble, stranding the Loyola centerfielder at second base.

Ball State padded its lead in the fifth inning when Lauren Schroeder and Haley Smith produced run-scoring singles, and the Cardinals added two more runs in the top of the sixth on RBI hits by Audrey Bickel and Carpenter.

Loyola grabbed a run back in the bottom half of the sixth when Zaworski, who had reached on an error earlier in the inning, scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-2. However, the Ramblers failed to capitalize on what had the makings of a big inning, and Ball State pushed its lead back to seven with a run in the seventh.

Andresen and Bell accounted for nearly all of Loyola's five hits off of Workman, tallying two apiece, while Stevie Bradich recorded the Ramblers' only other hit.

Loyola wraps up play at the Miami Invitational when it faces Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. Eastern.