INDIANAPOLIS – Gehrig Parker hit a deep fly ball to left that got past the outfielder and back to the wall to score Tyler Houston as the Butler baseball team came back to defeat Illinois State in the bottom of the ninth inning. BU scored four runs in the ninth to pull off the come from behind victory. They are now 27-11 on the season.
 
Houston went 4-for-6 from the plate with three RBI and a run scored. Parker was also an impact player on Saturday going 3-for-6 with the game-winning RBI. The bottom of the order made the difference however as Harrison Freed and Zach Parker each came up with two hits.
 
Connor Dall was 3-for-5 on the day with three runs scored and Zach Jarosz went 3-for-5 in the nine-hole with an RBI and two runs scored.
 
Butler scored 10 runs on 18 hits. They trailed 9-6 after seven full innings, but would rally in the ninth to post their third-straight victory.
 
Brock Balderson got the win by shutting out Illinois State over the final two frames. The right-hander only allowed one hit to improve to 3-0 on the season.
 
Butler bats got going in the second with Dall recording a triple down the right field line. He would score on Zach Parker's double to the gap and BU would make the game 2-0 after a groundout RBI from James Gargano.
 
Illinois State responded with three runs in the top of the third to take their first lead of the game, but the Bulldogs fired back with two more runs in the fourth.
 
Dall once again would stand on third base after his at-bat for BU. The Illinois State right fielder misplayed the ball and would allow Dall to get into scoring position on the E9. Dall would come in to score off an RBI single from Jarosz. The second BU run would feature Jarosz crossing home plate on a single to right from Houston.
 
The game took a bad turn for Butler in the seventh with Illinois State posting six runs. Two-straight singles followed by a walk would load the bases and back-to-back doubles would highlight the frame for the Redbirds.
 
Butler got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single from Freed and a ground out from Zach Parker.
 
The difference in the outcome followed with BU scoring four runs off five hits in the ninth. Dall led off with a single to right and Zach Parker would push a ball through the right side of the infield to give BU two on with no out.
 
Jarosz singled through the left side to load the bases and a hard hit ball from Gargano would score one on the 4-3 putout.
 
Houston came up clutch with a two-RBI single back up the middle of the field and the speedy centerfielder would come all the way around to score the game-winning run off the extra base hit from Gehrig Parker.
 
These two teams will meet again tomorrow at Illinois State. First pitch is set for 2 PM EST.