The Butler baseball team won three of four games this week, including a series win against Milwaukee at Bulldog Park.
In the April 14 match against Dayton, the Bulldogs managed 17 hits and went 9-0 in the first four innings. Juniors Luke Duncan and Grant Fillipitch and senior Kyle Schultz had three hits each, and junior Corey Moylan hit in three runs.
Freshman pitcher Jared Earle had the win, allowing no runs in the first six innings. The Bulldogs maintained their 9-0 lead until the seventh inning, when Dayton scored four runs in an attempt to even the score. They would have three more runs during the game, but ultimately the Bulldogs held their lead and won 9-7.
Head coach Steve Farley said Earle’s performance set the Bulldogs up to win, despite the setbacks in later innings.
“We needed somebody on our pitching staff to step up, and Jared Earle did a great job,” Farley said. “It was crucial for him to give us good innings. This is a win that we’ll look back on later in the season and we’ll say this was a key win that got us refocused.”
The Bulldogs also won their first series of the season in a three-game homestand against Milwaukee this past weekend.
The first game in Saturday’s doubleheader saw junior Mike Letzter going 2-for-3 with three RBIs. A six-run eighth inning created the gap that Milwaukee couldn’t close and Butler won 11-2.
The Panthers answered in the second game with 11 runs in the eighth inning, bringing the score to 13-4. All of the runs were scored with two outs, and nine of the runs were due to two Bulldog errors. UWM brought the final score to 14-4 with another run in the ninth.
Senior pitcher Joe Ochs pitched into the eighth inning, marking his best performance of the season until UWM’s high-scoring run.
Junior Kevin Crane hit in all four of the Bulldogs’ runs in the second game, and Fillipitch went 2-for-4, scoring twice.
The Bulldogs came back from a seven run deficit in the fourth inning to defeat UWM in Sunday’s game to end the series. The Panthers had 10 stolen bases in the game but were no match for Butler’s strong late innings.
Fillipitch and Moylan had four RBIs each, and Letzter had three RBIs to lead the Bulldogs to their 20-12 victory.
Three runs in the bottom of the fourth brought the score to 9-5, and seven runs in the bottom of the sixth gave the Bulldogs a 12-9 lead.
In the eighth, Butler sent 12 batters to the plate and earned seven more runs to widen the gap and set the lead at 19-9. Sophomore Nick Hladek and Fillipitch both had a two-run single, and freshman Andrew Eckhardt had a bases-loaded walk. One more run from Crane in the eighth sealed the deal, and the Bulldogs won 20-12.
Butler faces Ball State at home today.Sara
Sarah Black
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The Butler baseball team won three of four games this week, including a series win against Milwaukee at Bulldog Park.
In the April 14 match against Dayton, the Bulldogs managed 17 hits and went 9-0 in the first four innings. Juniors Luke Duncan and Grant Fillipitch and senior Kyle Schultz had three hits each, and junior Corey Moylan hit in three runs.
Freshman pitcher Jared Earle had the win, allowing no runs in the first six innings. The Bulldogs maintained their 9-0 lead until the seventh inning, when Dayton scored four runs in an attempt to even the score. They would have three more runs during the game, but ultimately the Bulldogs held their lead and won 9-7.
Head coach Steve Farley said Earle’s performance set the Bulldogs up to win, despite the setbacks in later innings.
Sports
The Bulldogs (34-11, 10-5 HL) swept Detroit (2-29, 0-18 HL) in a three-game homestand by outscoring the Titans 23-5 during the weekend.
