Box Score
Trailing by four runs, Valparaiso scored three times in the eighth inning and had
the potential tying and winning runs on base in the ninth, but a diving line drive
double play ended the Crusaders comeback attempt as Butler defeated the Brown and Gold 8-7 on a
rain delayed Friday afternoon at Emory G. Bauer Field.
Down 8-4 with two at bats
remaining, Kyle Gaedele (Arlington Heights, Ill./Rolling
Meadows H.S.) singled and Robbie
Robinson (Brea, Calif./Olinda H.S.) walked to lead off the eighth
inning. Will Hagel (Arlington
Heights, Ill./Prospect
H.S.) followed with a single up the middle to score Gaedele. After Robinson and Hagel moved up on a ground
out, Karch Kowalczyk (Peru, Ill./La Salle-Peru H.S.) plated Robinson with a one out hit. With two outs, Kyle Muhlsteff (Yorba
Linda, Calif./Esperanza
H.S.) drove home Hagel with a single through the right side, pulling Valpo
within 8-7.
Valpo then threatened again with
one out in the ninth. Gaedele and
Robinson both walked, but Hagel’s line drive up the middle was snared on a dive
by Butler
second baseman Luke Duncan, and he doubled Gaedele off of second.
Butler jumped on top in the opening inning on a two-run double
by Nick Hladek. The Crusaders throw out
Kevin Crane at the plate trying to score a third run on the play, ending the
inning.
A heavy thunderstorm rolled
through the area with two outs in the bottom of the first, delaying the action
for 57 minutes, but both starting pitchers, Joe Ochs for Butler
and Jon Gulbransen (Appleton, Wis./Fox
Valley Lutheran H.S.) for Valpo returned to the mound for their respective
clubs after the interruption.
The Crusaders manufactured a
run in the third to get on the scoreboard as Kowalczyk walked, moved to second
on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a single by Muhlsteff.
Butler answered with a solo homerun by Kyle Schultz in the
fourth before the Crusaders tied the game in the fifth. Steven
Scoby (Delton, Mich./Delton
Kellogg H.S.) had a flare single to right that scored Damon McCormick (Louisville,
Ky./Saint Xavier H.S.), who was
hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.
Gaedele added a sacrifice fly scoring Muhlsteff, who singled, tying the
game at three.
Again the Bulldogs
immediately responded, scoring a pair of runs in the sixth, one on an error and
another on a sacrifice fly. A pinch hit
RBI ground out by David Klein (Aurora, Ill./Oswego East
H.S.) scored McCormick in the seventh as the Brown and Gold cut the deficit to
5-4, only to see Butler add three runs in the top of the eighth, setting the
stage for Valpo’s comeback effort.
“We gave away too many at
bats early in the game,” head coach Tracy
Woodson said. “We couldn’t stop
them. Every time we scored runs, they came
back the next half inning with some runs of their own. We never got that shutdown inning.”
Ochs earned the win (3-3) for
Butler,
pitching 6.2 innings and allowing four runs and seven hits. Jamie Feldheiser came on and pitched the
ninth to earn his second save of the year.
Gulbransen went just 5.1 innings while suffering the loss (4-4). The junior allowed eight hits and five runs,
four of which were earned, while walking four and hitting two.
“Jon didn’t have his best
stuff today,” Woodson said. “He didn’t
hit his spots.”
Muhlsteff led the Crusaders
offensive attack, going 3-for-5 with two runs batted in. Gaedele, who extended his hitting streak to
15 straight games, had two hits, as did Hagel as part of an 11-hit attack.
Valparaiso (18-26, 6-6 Horizon) and Butler (17-23, 7-10) will wrap up their
three-game weekend series on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning
at noon.
“We’ve got to make things
happen for ourselves,” Woodson concluded.
“That’s just not happening right now.”