INDIANAPOLIS – Butler pushed a run across home plate in the bottom of the eighth inning to record an 8-7 win over Fort Wayne in game one of a three-game weekend series. Freshman James Gargano legged out a potential inning-ending double play and heads up base running by Gehrig Parker would allow the senior to score the game-winning run.
 
Parker scored three runs in the contest. He ended the game 1-for-3 with a walk. Butler's hit leader was lead-off man Jacob Margroff who went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Connor Dall had a big hit which generated two RBI. BU also got RBIs from Zach Jarosz and Zach Parker.
 
The game got underway with Fort Wayne scoring one run in each of the first three innings. BU chipped away at the deficit with a run in the bottom of the second. Jarosz opened the scoring with an RBI single to left that scored Garrett Christman.
 
Zach Parker got BU within one run in the fourth with his RBI double to left center and Dall would also find room in left center in the fifth to give BU a slim lead.
 
Butler looked to have scored an insurance run in the sixth, but the game took a drastic turn in the seventh after a Fort Wayne grand slam. The homer to left gave the Mastodons a 7-5 lead going into the stretch.
 
Butler responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Jacob Margroff hit a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield to knot the score at 7-7. Butler's go-ahead run would follow in the bottom of the eighth from Gehrig Parker.
 
Connor Mitchell got the start and tossed 6.1 innings of action, but the win fell to Kevin Napoleon out of the BU bullpen (1-0). Jack Pilcher would take the ninth inning and earn his third save of the season. Pilcher was awesome striking out two of the three batters he faced.
 
Butler and Fort Wayne will return to Bulldog Park tomorrow afternoon for a 1 PM first pitch. The series finale will follow on Sunday at 1 PM.