The Butler Grizzlies finished two games in a day in the opening round of the Region VI tournament at Tointon Family Stadium after a wild six hour night that saw their game on Tuesday against top seeded Cowley postponed to Wednesday. The Grizzlies played the final two innings of the Cowley game in the morning, losing 9-8 in walk off fashion before keeping their season alive with a 10-4 victory over Colby in the afternoon.
Game One
It took two rain delays, two days, eleven innings and a total of seven hours and 31 minutes to decide a bizarre and epic game showdown between the Grizzlies and the defending champion Cowley Tigers. The Grizzlies held the lead four different times, including a three run lead off a double from Josh Holmes which gave the Grizzlies a 7-4 lead. It was 7-7 when the game was suspended in the eighth inning. The Grizzlies took the lead in the eleventh again when Bryce Zimmerer singled up the middle to score Jackson Syring. Butler had Cowley down to their final strike before a single drove in two runs to win the game.
Braxton Hyde pitched effectively again, coming off a 12 strikeout performance against Coffeyville, he struck out six against the best team in the league at the plate, and allowed only two earned runs.
Andrew Wisner pitched the Grizzlies out of a jam in the eighth and struck out six batters in three innings as he guided Butler through extra innings, but was unfortunately pegged with the loss.
Game Two
Butler bounced back strong, scoring four runs in the second and three in the third to dispatch the Colby Trojans. Holmes, Zimmerer, and Zach Stroh all had multi RBI games, and Cooper Torres knocked out an opposite field solo home run to seal the victory as Butler totaled 10 runs on 13 hits.
Izack Tiger earned win number nine of the year, pitching six innings and striking out eight batters, allowing only three runs on five hits.