PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Butler's 2016 spring break trip to Port Charlotte ended on Saturday afternoon with a 9-2 loss to Illinois State. Butler posted signature wins over Northwestern and Boston College over the last week, but will return to Indianapolis with a 4-10 overall record after losing three-straight in the sunshine state.

Saturday's tilt vs. the Redbirds was decided by just three runs over the opening eight innings, but a strong, five-run finish from Illinois State decided the outcome.

Back-to-back doubles in the first inning opened up the scoring for Illinois State. Ryan Hutchinson would score Joe Keich with a double and then a two-out single from Jean Ramirez would double the advantage with Hutchinson coming all the way around to score.

A solo shot from Owen Miller in the top of the third would move the score to 3-0 for Illinois State. That score would hold true until the top of the eighth when a BU error would give Illinois State the 4-0 advantage.

With the 4-0 lead, Illinois State opted for a pitching change to start the bottom of the eighth. Jake Sale took the rubber and was immediately hit with a triple courtesy of Chris Maranto. BU would quickly put two on with no outs in the inning as Mike Kseniak pinch hit for Connor Dall and reached after base on balls. Sale would dial in however and get Michael Hartnagel to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. Maranto scored on the play, but the Bulldogs would be retired soon after on a fly out to center.

Butler jumped into the ninth with some momentum, but Miller would once again provide Illinois State with a lift as he smacked his second home run of the game out of the park to left field. That highlighted a five-run ninth inning for the Redbirds which would seal the deal.

Nick Morton took his first loss of the year on the mound for Butler. He tossed five complete innings, but was hit with three earned runs off nine hits. Danny Pobereyko came in for the next three frames and struck out four. Unfortunately for BU, he was also touched up for four runs off four hits.