INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler baseball team improved to 5-10 overall on Wednesday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over the visiting IPFW Mastodons. The contest was the first game of the season at Bulldog Park, although Butler batted last two weeks ago in the win over Marian at Grand Park.

Tyler Houston jumpstarted the offense for Butler in the bottom of the first inning and starting pitcher Quentin Miller would keep the Mastodons quiet for a majority of the game by tossing the opening 6.2 innings.

Houston's first at-bat of the game was an important one as the sophomore came up with a two-RBI double down the leftfield line. Gehrig Parker and Drew Small each came around to score giving Butler the early 2-0 lead.

Miller kept IPFW off the scoreboard throughout the first four innings of action to hold the lead and the freshman right-hander would receive some more run support in the bottom of four with a sacrifice fly from Michael Hartnagel that scored Garrett Christman.

The game tightened up in the seventh inning with IPFW getting a pair of singles from Shane Trevino and Brock Logan. The Mastodons would load the bases with two out after Shannon Baker reached on a walk, and a second base on balls from Miller would break up the shutout and signal the end of the game for the starter.

Bobby Napoleon would come in for Miller and get BU out of trouble as he got Jackson Boyce to pop out to second base.

Butler would get the single run back in the bottom of the seventh with a double steal that included Tyler Houston and Drew Small. Houston swiped second base while Small broke for home and made the final score 4-1.

Miller picked up his first win of the season (1-2) after nearly throwing seven innings. He limited IPFW to just four hits and one earned run. His line also included three strikeouts and just the two walks.

The save went to Zach Barnes who entered the game in the top of the ninth inning. Barnes put one runner on base, but got help from the defense to slam the door.

The Bulldogs will return to action this weekend with a three-game series at Saint Louis. First pitch for the opener has recently been moved up to 4 PM.