Bulldogs swept by Vikings
Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 15:31 EST
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Senior Joe Pauley and junior Colin Ziegel put together two of the best offensive performances of the season for the Bulldogs, but unfortunately it only resulted in one win against host Valparaiso on Friday and Saturday.
The baseball team hosted the Dayton Flyers in a pair of seven-inning non-conference games on April 23, but weren’t able to get the offense going, losing 6-2 and 19-2.
One bright spot on the day for Butler (8-26) was junior starting pitcher Joe Ochs, who returned after missing two weeks because of an injury. In four innings of work, he extended his scoreless innings streak to 21, while allowing just two hits and striking out two. The men’s tennis team lost in the Horizon League for the first time since 1996, ending its streak at 49 consecutive dual meets. UIC won 4-3 on Friday and also defeated the women’s team 5-2 on Saturday. The women’s team picked up a 6-0 victory earlier in the week against host IUPUI on April 16. The men’s soccer spring schedule concluded Saturday with an entertaining game at local area high school Warren Central. The men’s team executed well against the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes and came away with an impressive 3-1 victory over the 2007 national runner-up. The baseball team rallied for a 5-4 win in the first game, before falling 12-5 in the second against host Youngstown State on Saturday.
Senior Joe Pauley got the offense going in the opener, knocking out a two-run homer in the first inning for his team-leading fourth home run of the season. But that would be all the offense the team would produce until the ninth.
The Bulldogs (8-24, 4-12) produced 17 hits in the first game, including three from freshman Grant Fillipitch and sophomore Kyle Schultz, and two each from junior Alex Montagano, sophomore Jason Jamerson and seniors Joe Pauley and Kyle McLaughlin.
Butler was down 1-0 after an inning of play, but quickly responded in the third with two runs to take the lead. Jamerson singled in the fourth to bring across another run and the team added three more in the fifth for a 6-1 advantage.
The Vikings rallied back over the next two innings, closing the gap to 6-5 after seven innings. Fillipitch came through with an RBI single in the eighth to make it 7-5, but a Bulldog error in the latter half of the inning would give Cleveland State control of the game again at 8-7.
Butler battled right back, with junior Colin Ziegel responding with an RBI double to tie things up and junior Rick Betsch followed with a single to score him and pull back ahead 9-8.
Unfortunately, the Vikings did the same with a two-run double to claim the victory. The Bulldogs’ four errors in the game led to five unearned runs.
Butler was only able to produce one run in the second game, falling behind 5-0 after just two innings. Betsch’s RBI ground-out in the ninth scored senior Nate Hart for the lone run.
Next up the Bulldogs host Dayton on Wednesday at 2 p.m.