The Butler Baseball playoff run ran out of steam Saturday afternoon in Salina as the Grizzlies fell 14-4 to the Cowley Tigers in the Region VI Championship game.
This concludes a successful season for the Grizzlies who finished 37-16 on the season with a second place KJCCC West finish and a Region VI Runner-up finish. This is the highest Region VI finish since the 2006 season when the Grizzlies defeated Colby 5-0 in the Region VI Championship game advancing to the NJCAA World Series. Butler finished 1-2 that year in the world series.
"I am really proud of the guys and their grit all season long, said head coach BJ McVay. "They worked hard every day and pushed each other to be better even when faced with all the adversity that came along with this entire year. This is a special group of young men that I will forever remember."
Butler made quite the postseason run after coming from an opening round loss in the sub-regional to Fort Scott. The Grizzlies battled their way back and made it out of the sub-regional hosted by Johnson County, the No. 2 seed in the East.
The Grizzlies then made their way to Dean Evans Stadium in Salina, KS for the final four of the Region VI tournament along with Cowley, Colby and Kansas City Kansas. As in true Butler postseason form, the Grizzlies came from behind and won the opening game over the Trojans 10-7 on Thursday. They lost 11-3 to the Tigers on day two but responded with a gutty 12-11 victory over Colby ending their season and advancing to the Championship round on Saturday.
"This is one of the grittiest teams I have had here during my time," commented McVay. "They were never out of the fight and they proved that time and time again. The postseason run we went on wasn't luck, it was determination and drive from each and every one of our guys in the dugout."
This marks the third straight season the Grizzlies have won over 30-games in a year finishing 37-16 overall. The 27 wins is the second highest during head coach BJ McVay's tenure next to the 2019 season when the Grizzlies finished 39-19 overall with a KJCCC West championship.
