CARBONDALE – The Butler baseball team took a 13-3 loss to Northwestern and a 16-4 setback at Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs will end the weekend with a single game tomorrow against the Wildcats. First pitch is scheduled for 4 PM.
 
Travis Holt and Aaron Steinhart hit solo home runs for the Bulldogs in the first game, but the Wildcats would control the action by scoring 13 runs of 12 hits. Big innings for Northwestern came in the third and seventh. They scored two in the first but added four in the third and put the game away with five more runs in the seventh.
 
Michael Farinelli tossed a complete game for the Wildcats to secure his second win on the mound for Northwestern. Butler had Cory Bosecker throw 5.1 innings and John MacCauley come in from the pen for relief.
 
Game two had a similar result with Southern Illinois scoring 16 runs off 17 hits. Butler put up single runs in the second, third, eighth and ninth, but a five-run second inning and six-run fifth by the Salukis put the game away.
 
Nick Eaton made his 2022 debut for the Bulldogs. He only pitched one inning before handing the ball off to Jon Vore. The Salukis credited Noah Farmer with the win (3-0). The right-hander struck out five over six full innings.
 
Butler got on the scoreboard first in game two with Ryan O'Halloran sending Robbie McCargar to the dish with an RBI double to left. Aaron Steinhart would once again provide a lift with a solo home run for BU in the third.
 
Travis Holt and Dominic Milano would round out the scoring for the Bulldogs on Saturday. Each player had a hit in the contest. BU was led offensively by McCargar's 2-for-4 effort.