INDIANAPOLIS – Butler and Xavier played a doubleheader on Saturday after a storm rolled through the Indianapolis area on Friday. The Musketeers came back to win game one 7-5 and would later win the series with a 19-8 victory in the nightcap.
The Bulldogs were in the driver's seat in the opener, but were unable to hang onto a 5-1 lead. Xavier got a two-run home run from Luke Franzoni in the sixth and Tyler Demartino would clear the bases in the seventh with a double down the leftfield line. The homer made the game 5-3, and the extra base hit from Demartino put the Musketeers in front 6-5. XU added an insurance run in the seventh with Andrew Walker sending a ball through the left side of the infield to score Demartino.
Butler got on the scoreboard in the third inning with a
James Gargano home run. Xavier evened the score in the fourth with an RBI single from Garrett Schultz.
The Bulldogs built their lead in the fourth inning.
Dominic Milano broke the 1-1 tie with an RBI single that scored
Aaron Steinhart.
Billy Wurch followed in the order with an RBI single and
Kyle Van Liere delivered a two-RBI single to increase the lead to four runs.
Adrian Vega got the start on the mound for Butler and delivered quality innings for the 'Dawgs. The freshman threw 5.1 innings, striking out seven and walking just one.
Derek Drees was hit with the loss however, he did not give up an earned run. Drees threw 38 pitches over 1.2 inning before exiting the mound for
Aaron Barokas.
The win went to relief pitcher Jack Lynch (7-0) and the save was credited to Jerry Huntzinger (7). Huntzinger started the game at catcher for XU and hit at the top of the batting order for the Musketeers. He allowed two hits in the final frame and walked a batter, allowing BU to load the bases. With the game on the line, Huntzinger had a ball roll back to him, which he tossed over to first, ending the game.
In game two, Xavier scored two runs in the first, one in the second and seven in the third to open up a 10-1 lead over BU. The Musketeers moved forward to score 19 runs off 25 hits. They recorded seven home runs and five doubles.
Butler broke up the scoreboard with a run in the second inning.
Billy Wurch would then hit a two-run home run for the 'Dawgs in the bottom of the seventh and
Quentin Markle would add a three-run home run to highlight a five-run ninth inning.
Game three of the weekend series will be played tomorrow at 1 PM.
