EL DORADO, Kan. – The Butler baseball team won the inaugural game on the new artificial turf infield at McDonald Stadium, defeating Colby 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader on Tuesday.
The game was the high point of the four-game series. Colby won the second game 6-4 and then swept a doubleheader on Wednesday, winning 4-2 in the first game and 16-5 in the second game.
Butler is now 5-9 on the season, 2-6 in Jayhawk West Conference play. The Grizzlies are on the road in Concordia this coming weekend for a four-game series at Cloud County.
GAME 1
Butler broke open a scoreless game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a two-run home run to right field by Evan Koehler, scoring Michael Curello. Later in the inning, Gabe Cook would single and eventually reached third base, scoring on a wild pitch that gave Butler a 3-0 lead.
Travis Hendry was solid on the mound for the Grizzlies, throwing four shutout innings before giving up a run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth. Hendry struck out six and walked two on as he earned the win to improve his season record to 2-1.
Kyle Vogt came on in relief to throw a scoreless sixth inning and Trevor Ezell earned his third save of the season by throwing a scoreless seventh inning.
GAME 2
The Grizzlies had the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but could not get the hit they needed in a 6-4 loss in the second game of the doubleheader.
Colby jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning and would never trail in the game. The Grizzlies would get a run in the fourth inning in an RBI single by Gabe Cook that drove in Brandon Taylor. Taylor would score a second run in the sixth inning when Evan Koehler hit into a fielder's choice.
Butler trailed 6-2 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Michael Cerullo singled to drive in Evan Koehler and Dalton Wheat had an RBI groundout that scored Gus Strunk. Ty Moore would come to the plate with two outs and two on, but struck out to end the game.
GAME 3
Butler got on the scoreboard early in the first game on Wednesday after Levi Parker reached on a bunt single and scored on an infield single by Brandon Taylor.
Colby took a 2-1 lead after runs in the second and fourth inning, but starting pitcher Jackson Rolfs kept the Grizzlies in the game. In the bottom of the sixth, Butler tied the game when Ty Moore singled and Levi Parker scored his second run of the game.
The Grizzlies seemed poised to take the lead with the bases loaded and no outs, but a foul out to the catcher, a fielder's choice that retired the runner coming to the plate, and a groundout ended the inning.
Colby then took advantage in the top of the seventh, as Jacob Nath hit a two-run homer off of Butler reliever Trevor Ezell. Butler batters were retired in order in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.
GAME 4
Butler's starting pitcher was Greg Houser, who threw well for the first two innings. But the wheels fell off in the third inning when Colby put up eight runs. The Trojans got five more in the fourth inning, with the big hit being a grand slam home run by Hunter Brown.
Butler would get a pair of RBI doubles from Dalton Wheat, who was 2-3 in the game and scored two runs himself. Levi Parker was 2-4 and scored a pair of runs, but the Grizzlies were not able to avoid the run-rule defeat in the final game of the series as six pitchers took to the mound in seven innings of play.
