Box Score
LEXINGTON, S.C. – The Butler baseball team opened up the 2017 season with a 3-1 win over La Salle on Friday afternoon. The victory marked Butler's first win in a season opener since the 2010 campaign.
11 hits would generate three runs for the Bulldogs and great pitching combined with solid defense would limit the Explorers to just one run off two hits.
Jeff Schank took the mound for BU in the opener. The left-hander gave the Bulldogs five good innings by striking out eight batters. His lone earned run on the day came off a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
Life didn't get any easier for La Salle once Schank left the mound as
Danny Pobereyko kept the Explorers off the scoreboard in the sixth. The final three innings along with the win would fall to senior
Ottavio Dattolo out of the bullpen. Dattolo was lights out during his first appearance of season, striking out six and not allowing a single base hit.
The Explorers would use four arms on the day with Flax picking up the loss. The Bulldogs tied the game in the top of the seventh inning with a two-out single from
Zach Jarosz that scored
Garrett Christman. The inning started with back-to-back strikeouts, but Christman would single before
Michael DiViesti moved him around with a double.
The next inning would be the difference in the outcome as BU sent two more runs to the plate with two outs on the scoreboard.
Tyler Houston and
Cole Malloy each crossed home plate to give BU the 3-1 victory. Houston led off the eighth with a walk and Malloy would enter the game as a pinch runner after
Duncan Hewitt was walked in the DH spot.
Gehrig Parker and
Garrett Christman would each be responsible for RBI singles during that stretch. Christman ended the game 2-for-4 from the plate with his RBI and a run scored. DiViesti led the Bulldogs with three hits on the day and first baseman
Jordan Lucio picked up where he left off a season ago, by going 2-for-4 from the plate.
The Bulldogs will return to action tomorrow with a 3 PM game against Ohio. Sunday will feature a doubleheader against both La Salle and Ohio.
