NEW YORK – Butler wrapped up the 2018 regular season with a 3-1 loss at No. 12 St. John's. The Bulldogs will head into next weekend's BIG EAST Championship Tournament with a 33-18 overall record.
Harrison Freed hit a solo home run over the wall in right field in the top of the fifth inning. His fourth home run of the year moved his RBI total to 37.
Freed's homer tied the game as St. John's opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first inning off an RBI ground out from Stampfl. A sac fly in the sixth would put the Red Storm back on top with a close play at the plate.
Brocato hit a ball to right center that was tracked down by
Tyler Houston. Houston recorded the out and quickly got the ball home on one hop where
Zach Parker was blocking the plate. Parker received the ball and put down the tag, but home plate umpire Tim Carey called Shaw safe to give the Red Storm the 2-1 lead.
The home team would come up with an insurance run in the eighth and solid pitching on the mound from three arms would take the two evenly matched teams to the finish line at 3-1.
Belge got the start for STJ, but the win would fall to LaSorsa (4-0). Belge struck out five over five innings of work. LaSorsa would limit BU to just one hit over his 2.2 innings. The final arm out of the Red Storm bullpen was Hollowell who notched his fifth save of the season.
Butler used five student-athletes on the mound in game two of the doubleheader.
Garrett Christman got the start and struck out five Johnnies in four innings.
Connor Schultz wore the loss after two full innings.
Josh Walker would get one out for BU and
Brock Balderson would claim two others to get Butler out of the seventh. The eighth belonged to right-hander
Quentin Miller.
Butler clearly fought for the series win, but will gladly take a doubleheader split as they punch their ticket to the postseason.
The Bulldogs will keep an eye on tomorrow's doubleheader between Seton Hall and Georgetown. The 'Dawgs are currently the No. 3 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Championship Tournament. A full tournament preview will be available at the conclusion of tomorrow's BIG EAST action.
