The Butler baseball team opened up their four-game series at Lindenwood by playing a doubleheader against the Lions on Friday. BU took a 13-3 loss in game one, but roared back in the nightcap to win 9-8. Jack Moroknek was the driving force behind the Bulldog bats. He tied his own school record by hitting three home runs against Lindenwood, ending the game 3-for-4 from the plate with five RBI's!
 
The three home run performance moves Moroknek's season total to nine! No player in the country has more home runs over their first 12 games of the season.
 
Moroknek homered to right in the first, went deep to right center in the fifth, and won the game with a shot to straight-away center in the ninth. His first and last home runs were solo shots, while the second was a three-run bomb to the gap.
 
Butler trailed Lindenwood 5-1 before the fifth inning. Ryan Drumm delivered a double to left centerfield to score Harry Carr and Moroknek's homer evened the playing field at 5-5.
 
In the sixth, Danny Barbero homered to left centerfield and AJ Solomon would grab two RBIs with his single to left that scored both Drumm and Munton.
 
Lindenwood decided to pitch to Moroknek with no one on and two outs in the ninth. The decision favored the Bulldogs as his third home run pushed BU to victory.
 
Brett Sherrard got the start and would exit the mound after throwing four full innings. Nate Rosser handled the next three and the win would fall to Jack Bello. Bello was responsible for the last six outs of the game.
 
Game one was scoreless over the first three until Butler scored a pair in the fourth. Carr singled to score Bello and the game moved to 2-0 after an unearned run crossed on an error by the Lindenwood catcher.
 
Similar behavior followed in the bottom half of the fourth. BU looked to be cruising in the frame with two outs, but an error followed by a bunt single would shake up the inning.
 
Lindenwood took advantage of the miscue and plated five runs to go in front. Two more runs came in during the fifth and three more in the sixth. BU moved the game to 10-3 in the seventh, but the comeback trail was closed off with Lindenwood scoring two more in the eighth.
 
BU was limited to just six hits while giving up 17. Corbin Snyder and Alex Kanipe were the only arms used in the setback. Snyder got the start and threw 3.2 innings. He walked four and struck out two. Kanipe matched him with two strikeouts over his 3.1 innings of work.
 
These two teams will go head-to-head again tomorrow with a 2 p.m. eastern / 1 p.m. central first pitch at the Lou Brock Complex.