Mason, Ohio – The 2018 season came to a close on Saturday afternoon with Butler taking a 4-3 loss to Seton Hall in the BIG EAST Championship semi-finals. Butler hit two home runs in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to one, but the Pirate closer would end the comeback attempt to advance the two-seed to Sunday's game vs. St. John's.
 
Al Molina gave Seton Hall an early 1-0 lead with a two-out homer to centerfield on a two-two count. The SHU lead would grow in the fourth after a Mike Alescio double down the leftfield line that scored Sebastia Santorelli. Ryan Ramiz would reach on a BU throwing error after squaring around to bunt. The ball would sail over first base and Alescio would come around to score making the game 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
 
The 'Dawgs threatened Seton Hall in the top of the fifth with Tyler Houston and Gehrig Parker coming up with back-to-back hits. Houston recorded his 70th hit of the season to get on and a hit and run with Parker would move him around to third. Billy Layne Jr. would keep his cool however and come up with a key strikeout that kept BU off the scoreboard.
 
Momentum would shift with the strikeout and a costly two-out throwing error would extend the bottom of the fifth, giving SHU a 4-0 lead. A walk and two errors did the damage.
 
Butler stayed focused on the task at hand and made it a one-run game in the seventh with a pair of homers. Connor Dall led off with a shot to left center to make the game 4-1. Gehrig Parker would then take the ball out of the diamond to right with Tyler Houston on base to make the game 4-3.

Each home run came off Corey Sawyer as Layne exited the mound after six full innings. Layne did his job on Saturday by striking out nine BU batters. He battled against Garrett Christman on the mound who tossed seven full innings for Butler. Christman struck out five and only walked one.
 
Layne earned the win (5-1), Christman was hit with the loss (4-6). Matt Leon was credited with a six-out save.
 
Butler nearly doubled Seton Hall in the hit column 11-6, but three errors would prove to be costly in the outcome. The top three batters in the order accounted for eight of the 11 BU hits. Zach Jarosz and Tyler Houston tied for the team-high with three each. Parker was in the mix at 2-for-4 with his two RBI. Additional hits went to Hartnagel, Christman and Dall on his homer.
 
Butler ends the 2018 campaign with a 34-20 overall record. They are the third team in program history to notch 34 wins joining the 2002 and 2003 Bulldogs.