DAYTON, Ohio – The Butler baseball team won their sixth-straight game of the season with a 12-7 victory at Dayton on Wednesday afternoon. Chris Marras led the team to victory with a pair of home runs.

Marras homered in the sixth and came back to record another round-tripper in the eighth. His three-run shot in the sixth was followed by a solo home run from Michael Fries and his solo shot in the eighth followed up a Tyler Houston home run.

The Bulldogs scored six runs through the first three innings of the game, but Dayton came back to tie the score at 6-6 after a four-run fourth inning. Butler dominated the sixth inning with four runs highlighted by back-to-back jacks. The BU scoring total was rounded out with two more runs in the eighth.

Butler got off to a fast start at Dayton by pushing three runs across home plate in the top of the first inning. Drew Small singled to get the game underway and Tyler Houston followed in the order with a double to left field.

Senior Ryan Wojciechowski would clear the bases with his first hit of the game as the first baseman found room in right center to give BU a quick 2-0 lead. That advantage would grow to 3-0 after an RBI single from Michael Fries.

The Bulldogs added another run in the top of the second inning thanks to yet another extra base hit as Cole Malloy recorded a double to right field that moved Quincy Quintero to third base. Quintero came around to score on the very next at-bat as Small grounded out to second base.

Butler's lead was cut in half in the bottom of the second as Dayton scored two runs without recording a hit. Pitching woes started the inning with Connor Mitchell hitting a batter then walking a batter. That trend continued as Nick Gobert drew a walk to score the first Flyer run and a one out sac fly made the score 4-2.

Butler took advantage of a few Dayton errors in the third to score two runs off two hits. Ryan Wojciechowski reached second base off a wild pitch after leading off the inning with single. The senior advanced to third off a Dayton error and scored a run on a fielder's choice by Fries.

A second Dayton error allowed Butler to score their second run of the inning as Mike Kseniak allowed Fries to come around and score an unearned run. The Flyers got out of further trouble however with an inning ending 4-6-3 double play.

Ending the third inning with a double play kept Dayton within striking distance as the Flyers tied the game with four runs in the fourth. The score would remain tied up at 6-6 through the fifth inning, but the Bulldogs made some noise in the sixth to take a commanding lead.

Marras busted the game wide open with a two-out, three-run home run off Danny Hentz. Hentz's day would quickly come to an end as Fries followed up with a solo shot to give Butler the 10-6 advantage.

Dayton got one run back in the bottom of the seventh, but two more Butler home runs in the eighth would put the game out of reach. Houston led off the inning with a home run after a Dayton pitching change. The long ball would once again help BU just one batter later as Marras recorded his second home run of the game to deep left centerfield.

Dayton recorded one hit in the eighth and one more in the ninth, but the BU bullpen kept the Flyers off the board enabling the Bulldogs to earn the win.

Fries ended the game 4-for-5 from the plate with three RBIS and two runs scored while Marras was in the book with four RBIS and two runs scored off a 2-for-5 effort.

The top of the order was also on point with Small, Houston and Wojciechowski all picking up two hits. The Butler win fell to pitcher Luke Johnson who tossed two nearly perfect innings of ball. Josh Goldberg, Kyle Allen and Peter Nyznyk all took the hill after Johnson, while Mitchell and Bobby Napoleon got work in before.

The Bulldogs will now shift their focus to Purdue as they travel to West Lafayette to face the Boilermakers in a two-game series beginning on Friday.