CHARLESTON, S.C. – The first game of the weekend series between Butler and Charleston Southern went to the home team (2-1). Charleston Southern scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning to record the victory. The Bucs now move to 2-2 on the year, while Butler falls to 0-5.

Evan Raynor was the player of the game for Charleston Southern. He tossed eight full innings at Joe Riley Park, limiting Butler to just three hits. He left the game with six strikeouts and just one walk. The great outing allowed Chayce Hubbard to come in and earn his second save of the season. Hubbard struck out the side to close the door on the Bulldogs.

Drew Small, Tyler Houston and Connor Dall all ended up in the hit column for BU. Dall came up with a solo shot off Raynor in the eighth inning, it went down as his first career home run for the Bulldogs.

Two of Butler's three hits on the day came in the eighth. Dall regained new life at the dish after a dropped foul ball. He made the Bucs pay by leading off the inning with the homer. A groundout and a strikeout followed Dall's at-bat giving the Bucs two quick outs. Small extended the inning with a single through the left side and a failed pickoff attempt moved him into scoring position. With the game on the line, Butler sent Chris Maranto to the plate. Maranto flied out to centerfield to end the inning.

Houston gave Butler their first base runner of the game with his single to left in the top of the first. He moved to second with Chris Marras drawing a walk and advanced to third off a wild pitch. Houston would be stranded on third however as Raynor got Jordan Lucio to strike out.

Jeff Schank pitched well against Raynor for BU, but he wasn't able to get any run support. The junior tossed seven full innings and walked away with three strikeouts. The Bucs scattered 10 hits across the diamond with Schank on the bump, but the only damage would come in the third.

The Bucs led off the third with a pair of singles and moments later two RBI singles from Chris Singleton and Cole Murphy would give the home team the 2-0 cushion. The top offensive weapon for Charleston Southern was lead-off man Nate Blanchard. The third baseman went 3-for-4 in the contest.

Schank avoided further trouble in the third and kept Butler around for the remainder of the game. He would eventually be replaced by Quentin Miller who blanked the Bucs in his lone inning of work.

These two clubs will return to the ballpark tomorrow for an 11 AM first pitch.