ATHENS, Ohio ? One strike away from taking the game and the series from Ball State, the Ohio baseball team surrendered four runs to the visiting Cardinals in the top of the ninth and fell by a final of 5-2 Sunday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium.

A home run by designated hitter Anthony Gressick (Lancaster, Ohio) broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning for the Bobcats (21-19-1, 8-8-1 MAC), who took that lead into the final frame, but the Cardinals (30-13, 15-4 MAC) rallied for four runs off Ohio reliever Yale Silverman (Baton Rouge, La.) ? all with two outs ? to earn the come-from-behind victory.

?We?ve got to give them credit. They hung in there and didn?t quit through the last strike of the game,? said Ohio Head Coach Joe Carbone. ?Ball State is an outstanding team. They?re very well coached, play solid defensively, have very good pitching and they swing the bats very well.?

For the second game in a row, the visiting Cardinals got on the scoreboard in their first at-bat. A fielding error by Bryan Buck (Hudson, Ohio) in left allowed the BSU leadoff hitter to reach. Ohio starter Luke Howard (Lebanon, Ohio) was able to retire the next two batters, but a double to the right-center gap pushed the Cardinals out in front 1-0.

The Bobcats were quick to draw even, getting their first tally in the home half of the first. Dusty Hammond (Bellefontaine, Ohio) drove a one-out single through the left side and Brian Colopy (Columbus, Ohio) followed with a double down the right field line to give Ohio two runners in scoring position. Ben Crabtree (Roxbury, Conn.) then grounded out to second, but Hammond scored on the play to knot it at 1-1.

After surrendering the first inning tally, Howard settled in to retire 15 of the next 16 Cardinal batters in a row, the only exception being a fifth inning walk.

BSU starter Tyler Pritchard nearly matched Howard?s effort, only yielding three Bobcat runners over the next four innings. The right-hander was chased in the bottom of the seventh though, as Gressick took his 2-1 offering over the wall just under the scoreboard in left center for his fifth home run of the season and a 2-1 Ohio lead.

Howard struck out the leadoff hitter in the seventh, but the next two BSU batters singled ? their first hits since the first inning ? and Carbone went to Silverman out of the bullpen. The right-hander then struck out consecutive Cardinal hitters to preserve the lead.

Silverman pitched a scoreless eighth, but got in serious trouble in the ninth. After a leadoff single, he retired the next two Cardinal batters, but a walk and a hit batsman loaded the bases. Silverman then threw a ball on a full count to BSU?s Matt Singleton to push home the tying run. Dan O?Rourke (Monongahela, Pa.) came on in relief, but Mike Sullivan doubled just out of reach of Buck in left to plate all three runners for a 5-2 lead.

The Bobcats managed to get a single by Phil Sabatini (Oakmont, Pa.) in their last at-bat, but BSU reliever Erik Morrison shut the door to secure the victory.

Howard, who made a spot start after the coaching staff decided not to go with schedule hurler John Angelicchi (Woodmere, Ohio), allowed just four hits and no earned runs with four strikeouts and a walk in 6 1/3 innings of work, but received a no-decision.

?I thought Howard did a great job for us,? Carbone said. ?Angelicchi wasn?t 100 percent and we didn?t want to go with someone who wasn?t 100 percent, so we decided to go with Luke.?

Silverman (2-4) took the loss in relief. The first four outs he recorded were all strikeouts, but all four runs that scored in the ninth were his responsibility.

Buck and Hammond each finished 2-for-4 for Ohio, who dropped its second Mid-American Conference series in a row.

Morrison (6-0) was the pitcher of record for BSU. In three innings of work he allowed just two hits and no Ohio runners advanced past second base. Pritchard gave up two runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings in his third start of the year.

Sullivan, the ninth inning hero, was one of three Cardinal batters to record two hits on the day.

Ohio will play its next seven games out of the league before traveling to Akron for the final series of the season, May 20-22.

?We?re going to just keep working on things to get better,? Carbone said. ?We?ll just keep trying to win every game we play and get ready for Akron once this week?s over with.?

The Bobcats will entertain Rio Grande in a non-conference contest Monday at Bob Wren Stadium. The fourth game in as many days for Ohio will get underway at 6 p.m.