Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler baseball team led 7-4 over No. 15 UConn going into the ninth inning, but the Huskies tied it up then used a go-ahead inside the park homerun to win 8-7 Friday afternoon at Bulldog Park in 10 innings.

The Bulldogs (18-24-1, 2-7-1 BIG EAST) had to deal with adversity early as starting pitcher Derek Drees had to leave the game after one inning due to injury. Adrian Vega came on in relief and limited the conference leading Huskies (35-8, 9-1) to three runs on six hits in 5.0 innings of work. The freshman posted five strikeouts in the game.

Butler got on the board in the bottom of the second with two runs to go up 2-0. Aaron Steinhart led off the inning with a double to right center before a Ryan O'Halloran single. After O'Halloran stole second to put runners on second and third base, Kollyn All hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Steinhart, with O'Halloran advancing to third on a throwing error. Dominic Milano brought him home with an RBI groundout to second.

UConn went on to tie it in the third inning then go up 3-2 in the fourth inning. Butler responded with three runs of its own, first with two in the fifth (Kyle Van Liere RBI triple, James Gargano RBI single) then one in the sixth (Milano RBI double) to take a 5-3 lead.

The Bulldogs added another pair in the seventh with an RBI triple from Scott Jones, with Jones scoring on a throwing error on the play to give the home team a 7-4 advantage.

The Huskies plated a trio of runs in the ninth to send it to an extra inning, where second baseman David Smith hit an inside the park homer to center field for the game's final run.

Pitchers of Record
Jack Sullivan (1-1) claimed the win for UConn, while Justin Willis picked up his 11^th save of the season. Aaron Barokas (2-4) took the loss for the Bulldogs.

Stat of the Game
Butler hit two triples for the most in a game by the Bulldogs this season. The team had five on the season coming into Friday's game.

Inside the Box Score
- Jones and Van Liere posted identical stat lines at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one triple, one RBI and one run scored each.
- O'Halloran and Steinhart each added two hits and a run scored for the Butler offense.
- Vega's five innings were a season-best, and he had at least 5 strikeouts in a game for the third time this season.
- Smith went 4-for-5 with two homeruns and four runs scored out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup for the Huskies, while BIG EAST batting leader Erik Stock pounded out three hits including a double.

Up Next
Saturday's game has been moved up to a 1 p.m. first pitch at Bulldog Park, with Cory Bosecker and Pat Gallagher being the probable starting pitchers for Butler and UConn, respectively.