Butler baseball pounds Brashear

By Mike Kilroy
Eagle Staff Writer

The Butler baseball team needed to break out of its funk.
After scoring just one run in a pair of section defeats last week, the Golden Tornado broke out against Brashear with 10 runs in the first two innings on the way to a 10-0, five inning win over the Bulls at Pullman Park Tuesday afternoon.
“It was a good game to hopefully get our guys to relax again, have fun out there,” said Butler coach Todd Erdos. “It was nice to get our guys going, get some good (at-bats) going and hit the ball hard somewhere. Hopefully that will carry over into (Wednesday) and Friday.”
Mick Fennell and David Tompkins had a pair of hits and Dante Dorcy had a two-run triple to stake Butler to a big early lead.
Brashear (5-2) was plagued by five errors in the first two innings that led to seven unearned runs.
“We're thrilled to have the opportunity to come out here because we know Butler is highly touted and have been getting some good ink in the press,” said Brashear coach Nate Geller. “Our guys were really excited, but unfortunately, (Butler) made the plays in the field and we didn't. We can take some positives away from this, though.”
Brashear got back-to-back singles in the first inning from Regis Sauer and Chris Hawkins, but Butler starting pitcher Adam Schaffner settled down to get out of the inning with a double play.
Butler scored three runs in the top of the first inning and seven more in the bottom of the second inning against Bulls' starter Billy Land.
The senior left-hander, though, didn't pitch badly.
“They hit maybe three balls really hard the whole game,” Geller said. “Our guys threw very well.”
John Husser, also a senior, relieved Land and tossed two shutout innings.
Erdos was impressed with Brashear.
“They swing the bat very well,” Erdos said. “They put some good swings on the ball.”
Butler used three pitchers. Schaffner went three innings to pick up the win. Matt Baranchak worked the fourth and Alex Ziegler, who had an RBI single in the second inning, pitched a perfect fifth.
Ziegler, a left-hander, hasn't logged many innings this season, but Erdos was anxious to get him some work.
“Just in case we need him down the road,” Erdos said.
Butler will host Fox Chapel at the high school field today at 7 p.m. before a showdown at Seneca Valley Friday afternoon.
Erdos is hoping his team got its mojo back.
“Yeah, hopefully we did,” Erdos said, smiling. “It was kind of ironic that everyone went into a slump at the same time. That usually doesn't happen. It's usually just two or three guys. Hopefully our sticks will continue to come alive.”
Brashear 000 00x x — 0 3 5
Butler 370 0xx x — 10 9 0
W: Adam Schaffner 3IP (2K, 0BB). L: Billy Land 2IP (2K, 0BB).
Brashear (5-2): Adam Lynch 1B, Regis Sauer 1B, Chris Hawkins 1B
Butler (8-2): Colin Williamson 2B, Alex Ziegler 1B RBI, Jake Stoner 1B, Mick Fennell 2-1B RBI, David Tompkins 2-1B RBI, Dante Dorcy 3B 2-RBI, Schaffner 3B