The Butler women’s tennis team defeated Green Bay 7-0 Sunday.

Sophomores Stephanie McLoughlin and Gabrielle Rubenstein won 8-1 in their No. 1 doubles match.

Seniors Cam Thompson and Ashley Breitenbach won 8-4 in No. 2 doubles to secure the point for the Bulldogs (7-13, 4-2).

Butler also won all of its singles matches against the Phoenix (4-12, 2-5).

The day before, the Bulldogs fell to Milwaukee 6-1.

McLoughlin and Rubenstein won 8-3 at No. 1 doubles, and the team of junior Brittany Farmer and sophomore Caroline Hedrick also picked up an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles.

The Bulldogs could not overcome losses in all six singles contests to the Panthers (12-7, 5-1).

Butler now sits one game back of second place in the conference standings.

The Butler men’s tennis team was defeated by Green Bay 6-1 on Sunday.

The Bulldogs (3-18, 2-3) captured the doubles point against the Phoenix (16-6, 5-1) with victories in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots.

Freshman Tommy Marx and senior Zach Ervin won 8-2 at No. 2 doubles, and senior Stephen McLoughlin and freshman Sam O’Neill won 9-8 at No. 3 doubles.

The loss was the Bulldogs’ fifth straight and dropped the team to sixth place in the Horizon League.

Both Butler teams finish their regular season with matches at Cleveland State on Saturday and at Youngstown State on Sunday.

The downtown digs of the Indianapolis Indians became the home of Butler baseball yesterday as the Bulldogs (18-15, 6-6) faced Ball State at Victory Field.

Two eighth-inning home runs gave Butler an 8-6 comeback win over the Cardinals (7-22, 3-6).

After grabbing an early 1-0 lead, the Bulldogs gave up six runs in the third inning.

Senior pitcher Dom Silvestri was charged with all six of Ball State’s runs.

The first two Cardinal batters of the inning walked and singled, setting up four consecutive run-scoring at-bats.

Butler whittled away at the lead by scoring two runs in the fifth inning and another one in the sixth, cutting the score to 6-4.

Junior designated hitter Pat Gelwicks struck a two-run home run to tie the game at six in the eighth inning.

Two batters later, junior first baseman Jimmy Risi hit a go-ahead two-run home run to give the Bulldogs an 8-6 advantage.

With the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning, junior pitcher Chase Byerly held off the Ball State rally by striking out sophomore shortstop T.J. Weir and forcing a groundout from sophomore first baseman Cody Campbell.

Prior to the contest, junior catcher Radley Haddad said playing in a professional ballpark like Victory Field is the dream for many players.

“All of us as college baseball players have the goal to play at the next level,” Haddad said. “Playing in a bigger stadium, getting our name out there and putting Butler on the map is pretty cool.”

Junior infielder Lucas Calderon said he was also excited to play at Victory Field.

“Ever since you’re a little kid, you want to play on a professional field and in one of the nicest minor league ballparks,” Calderon said.

Calderon’s family in Florida was also able to watch the game since it was televised.

“[I’m looking forward to] the chance to play in a televised game because that means my family back home in Miami will be able to watch me,” Calderon said before the game.

Prior to taking on the Cardinals, the Bulldogs visited Horizon League opponent Milwaukee for a three-game series.

Butler fell to the Panthers (11-17, 6-6) in the rubber game Saturday, losing 16-4. The Bulldogs committed four errors that helped the Panthers score five unearned runs.

Butler junior centerfielder Jack Dillon picked up two hits and an RBI in the loss.

Butler picked up a 3-2 win in Friday’s game at Milwaukee thanks to an odd first inning inside-the-park home run in the first inning by senior right fielder Mike Hoscheit.

With runners on first and second, Hoscheit hit a fly ball to right field, and the foot of Milwaukee sophomore right fielder Ryan Solberg became stuck in the fence as he was fielding the ball.

With Solberg unable to break free from the fence to make the play, Hoscheit, Gelwicks and Risi scored the Bulldogs’ only runs of the game.

Butler lost the series opener Thursday in a 14-2 loss to Milwaukee.

The Bulldogs will host Illinois-Chicago for a three-game series starting Friday.

For the first time in six years, the Butler men’s basketball team will not appear in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship tournament.

Needing to win the Horizon League tournament for an automatic bid, the Bulldogs instead were knocked out by a 65-46 loss to Valparaiso in the semifinals Saturday night.

Photo by Chris Goff

The Bulldogs (20-14) will become just the fifth team since 1985 to miss the NCAA tournament after playing in the national championship game the previous year.

Coach Brad Stevens said Butler would accept a potential bid to the NIT or, more likely, the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament or the College Basketball Invitational.

“It’s still an honor,” Stevens said. “It’s not what you set out to do or strived to do, but we’re not an NCAA-tournament team. Our overall success this year is not worthy.”

Valparaiso junior forward Ryan Broekhoff helped deal a final blow to Butler’s résumé with 19 points and 16 rebounds before a near-capacity crowd in the top-seeded Crusaders’ home arena.

No. 5 seed Butler entered the game having won seven of its last eight. The Bulldogs lost for a third time this season to the Crusaders (22-10), who moved on to face Detroit for a bid to the NCAA tournament.

“Any team that’s the age we are is going to be inconsistent,” Stevens said. “We played like a green, young team [Saturday].”

Detroit defeated Valparaiso 70-50 last night in the conference championship game, which Butler won the past two seasons.

“It’ll be different,” senior guard Ronald Nored said. “Regardless of where we play, we’ll go out there and play as hard and as well as we can.”

Sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins kept the Bulldogs within striking distance until midway through the second half with 18 points. Sophomore forward Erik Fromm had 12 points and six rebounds.

No other Butler player had more than four points. The Bulldogs shot 33.3 percent from the field after starting the game 4 of 18.

Junior center Kevin Van Wijk and junior point guard Erik Buggs contributed 11 points apiece for the Crusaders, who shot 53.5 percent from the field.

Butler led 7-2 about three minutes into the game after Hopkins rattled home a jumper.

Valparaiso then went on a 17-1 run over the next 7:25 and never relinquished the lead.

Stevens dealt with a shortage of players he could rely on for offense.

Starters Nored, junior center Andrew Smith, sophomore forward Khyle Marshall and freshman forward Roosevelt Jones combined for eight points in 94 minutes of playing time.

“They really struggled,” Stevens said.  “I don’t know why.”

The Crusaders dominated the glass by a 39-22 margin, which helped them to a 31-24 lead at the end of the first half. In the opening 20 minutes, 11 of Valparaiso’s 14 field goals were either layups or tip-ins.

Broekhoff, the conference player of the year, wouldn’t allow Butler to come back.

“He was the best player on the floor by far,” Stevens said. “You’ve got to be incredibly tough to win in an environment like this. We were thoroughly outplayed.”

The Bulldogs fell behind by as many as 21 in a game that reminded some of their 71-59 loss in the regular season finale at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

“The two frontline guys [Van Wijk and Broekhoff] killed us again,” Stevens said. “We really struggled to score in and around the paint again. It’s a loud gym.”

The Crusaders remembered the result from Feb. 24 when they raced out to an 18-4 lead.

“We were quietly confident we could repeat what happened,” Broekhoff said.

Butler’s lopsided defeat came on the heels of its victory over Milwaukee the day before.

The Bulldogs led the whole game in a 71-49 rout of the Panthers (20-13) Friday night.

Marshall and Jones each scored 17 points, and Smith added eight.

Over the weekend, Nored became Butler’s all-time record-holder for assists in a single season, passing Mike Green with 180 thus far.

A Horizon League official said he expects Butler’s postseason status to be resolved by the evening of March 12 at the latest.