EL DORADO, Kan. – The Butler baseball team split a conference doubleheader on Thursday at McDonald Stadium against Cloud County, winning the first game 5-4 before falling 11-7 in the nightcap.
With the split, Butler is now 7-8 on the season and 2-2 in Jayhawk West Conference play. The Grizzlies will conclude the four-game series with Cloud on Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. at McDonald Stadium.
Game 1 – Butler 5, Cloud County 3
Carson Corff was dominating on the mound for six innings, striking out eight and allowing just one run. At one point in the game, Corff struck out six Cloud batters in a row.
Corff went back to the mound to start the seventh inning, but was pulled after getting allowing a pair of. Reliever Trever Ezell came in and hit the first batter he faced to load the bases, but earned the save by getting the next batter to fly out to center field to end the game.
Butler had a cushion to work with in the seventh thanks to scoring four runs in the second inning. Michael Cerullo hit a solo home run over the scoreboard in right field as Butler tied the game 1-1.
Later in the inning, Zach Baker hit a double to left-center to drive in Cameron Knight and Alex Weiss. The final run of the inning came when Dalton Wheat hit a two-out single to center to drive in Baker.
Butler added one more run in the third inning when Cameron Knight singled with two outs to score Alex Weiss from second.
Game 2 – Cloud County 11, Butler 7
Butler sent starting pitcher Brady Holcomb and his 3-0 record to the mound to start the second game, but he struggled, allowing seven runs through the first four innings.
Butler's offense tried to keep pace, getting two runs in the bottom of the first when Alex Weiss reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. In the second inning, Jordan Knox drove in a run with a double to left and Zach Baker drove in a run with an RBI groundout.
The Grizzlies, however, never led in the contest. The Grizzlies scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a pair of Cloud County errors, but that only trimmed the final deficit to four runs.
Evan Koehler and Logan Beard both had multiple-hit games for Butler in the loss. Butler threw six pitchers in the game. Jackson Rolfs threw a scoreless inning in relief, while Grant Hamilton threw 2/3 of a scoreless inning in the ninth.