The Butler baseball team piled up runs against Wabash yesterday, taking advantage of five errors and winning by a score of 17-3.
Photo by Marcy Thornsberry
The Bulldogs (16-13, 5-4) broke open the game with five runs in the fourth inning and four runs in the fifth innings against the Little Giants (13-14).
Junior Pat Gelwicks continued to lead Butler offensively. The designated hitter had a home run and five RBI in the contest.
Senior right fielder Mike Hoscheit had a home run and three RBI, and senior shortstop Griffin Richeson had three hits and scored three runs from the leadoff spot.
Seven of the Bulldogs’ 17 runs were unearned.
Last weekend, Butler took two out of three games in a weekend series against the Youngstown State Penguins.
With the victories, the Bulldogs moved into second place in the Horizon League.
On Sunday, the team defeated the Penguins (4-22, 2-7) 18-5 behind a strong performance from Gelwicks.
Gelwicks was a force once again, going 5-for-7 with a home run, a double and three RBI.
Butler jumped out to an early lead, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning.
The Bulldogs added six runs in the top of the sixth inning and collected four more in the top of the ninth inning.
Ten Butler players recorded at least one RBI in the contest.
Senior pitcher Mike Hernandez gave up one earned run and scattered six hits over six innings pitched. Hernandez also struck out two Penguins in the weekend’s rubber game.
On Saturday, the Penguins got the best of the Bulldogs, who committed four errors in the first three innings of the game.
Youngstown State won the game by a 9-3 margin despite tallying only three earned runs.
Sophomore third baseman Drew Dosch went 3-for-5 with four RBI and a double for the Penguins.
Youngstown State sophomore pitcher Patrick O’Brien scored his first victory of the season, while Butler junior pitcher Joel Leichty suffered his first loss of the campaign.
On Friday, Butler senior pitcher and Youngstown native Dom Silvestri had a successful homecoming, leading the Bulldogs to a 7-5 win.
Silvestri pitched six innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits to improve his record to 3-0.
Four Bulldogs recorded a double and Hoscheit hit a home run.
Hoscheit led Butler offensively, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Butler led 7-4 after six innings and Youngstown State was unable to rally back.
The Bulldogs will jump back into conference action when they take on Milwaukee in a three-game series from Thursday to Saturday.
