Ball State's most prominent MLB alumnus delivered when it counted most.
Alex Call, the Cardinals-turned-Dodgers outfielder out of Muncie, punctuated Los Angeles' regular season in style on Sunday, lacing a run-scoring double in the 10th inning of a 5-1 win over the San Francisco Giants — the Dodgers' 100th victory of 2026.
Call's clutch hit opened the floodgates in extras. Andy Pages followed immediately with a three-run blast, putting the game away and sending the Dodgers into October with a milestone firmly in hand. Call also scored during the frame, finishing the day 1-for-his-at-bats with an RBI and a run scored. His season average sits at .233, but in the moments that frame legacies, the Ball State product came through.
It's the kind of contribution that tends to get overshadowed in a lineup as deep as Los Angeles', but for Ball State fans tracking their own across the bigs, Sunday was a reminder that Call remains a reliable piece of a championship-caliber roster. The Dodgers entered the postseason as one of the favorites in the National League, and Call's role as a left-field option gives him a real shot at October relevance.
The Rest of the Cardinal Flock
Call is far from alone in keeping Ball State's MLB footprint visible. The Cardinals have quietly become something of a pitching factory at the professional level, with six alumni currently on active rosters as pitchers.
Chayce McDermott is the name drawing the most buzz among the group, pitching for a Mets squad that has been one of the more surprising stories of the 2026 season. Zach Plesac continues to grind through a career reinvention with the Angels, while Kyle Nicolas holds a spot in Washington's rotation as the Nationals continue their rebuild. Drey Jameson is in Arizona's mix as the Diamondbacks position themselves for a postseason run of their own, and Ty Johnson is working out of Tampa Bay's pitching staff.
On the position player side, Zach Cole is in Houston's outfield as the Astros navigate another deep October push — making this a notable week for Ball State alumni with potential postseason stakes on multiple fronts.
No program outside of a traditional powerhouse can claim six active MLB pitchers and multiple contributors on contending rosters simultaneously. Ball State's development pipeline, often overlooked in college baseball conversations dominated by SEC and ACC programs, is producing results that speak for themselves.
For now, the spotlight belongs to Call. His extra-inning double against the Giants was the kind of play that Ball State alumni can point to when the question arises of where Muncie, Indiana fits on the professional baseball map. The answer, increasingly, is: right in the thick of it.
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