INDIANAPOLIS – An 11-3 victory over Villanova on Sunday afternoon allowed the Bulldogs to beat the Wildcats in a three-game weekend series two games to one. The two evenly matched teams were tied up at 3-3 after four innings, but the Bulldogs would score eight runs in the fifth to earn their ninth win of the 2021 season.
 
John MacCauley got the win and Scott Wright was fantastic out of the bullpen for Butler. MacCauley covered the first five innings of action to record his third win of the season (3-1). He struggled with his command at times, but limited Nova to just four hits which resulted in three earned runs.

Wright took care of innings six, seven and eight for BU. He only allowed one hit while striking out two. The final BU arm to touch the rubber was Derek Drees. He did his job striking out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth.
 
Butler opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second inning with Duncan Hewitt crossing home plate for the first run of the contest. Nova countered with a single run in the third with a sacrifice fly from Lorusso.
 
The scoring trend continued as Butler pushed two runs across in the third only to see Villanova match them in the fourth. Freddie Matos hit a two-RBI double to left to give BU a 3-1 advantage, but a sac fly from Reiner followed by a single back up the middle of the diamond by Rotondo would even the action at 3-3.
 
MacCauley got through the top of the fifth inning and enjoyed the bottom half. BU scored eight runs to take a commanding lead off just three hits. Nova starter Tyler Arella recorded a strikeout to open up the fifth, but would walk the next two batters and be replaced on the mound by Cole Vanderslice.
 
The bullpen didn't help Arella who would eventually take the loss (1-2). Vanderslice only recorded one out while allowing three earned runs. Cameron Mathes was similar in his outing allowing three more BU runs off three hits. He exited the game without recording an out for the Wildcats. Danny Wilkinson would eventually get Nova out of the inning with a strikeout. He went the rest of the way for Nova and led the team with six strikeouts.
 
Highlighting the fifth inning for Butler offensively was James Gargano, Aaron Steinhart and Dan Harwood. Andy Bennett gave BU a lead with a sac fly to score Hewitt and Jonathan Shoop was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to extend that lead 5-3.
 
The real damage started with Gargano at the dish. He singled up the middle to score both Brody McGrath and AJ Poynter. Aaron Steinhart would take over DH duties for Butler in this one and also single back up the middle of the field to score Shoop and Gargano. The nail in the coffin would follow with Harwood hitting his fourth home run of the season with Steinhart on base to give BU the 11-3 victory.
 
The Bulldogs will look to ride this momentum into next weekend when they play a four-game series at UConn. Friday's first pitch is set for 6 PM.