Butler rallies vs

Butler rallies vs. Rams

BUTLER TWP — The Butler baseball team may or may not be the best in the section.
The rest of the season will determine that.
What the Golden Tornado have proven is that they are resilient.
After falling behind to Pine-Richland 5-0 after three innings, Butler scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on the way to a 7-5 home win Monday night.
It was the Golden Tornado's second come-from-behind win at its new park when it trailed by five runs or more.
"(Resiliency) is a good word," said Butler coach Dave Florie. "You can never, ever give up on this team. They are very confident with the bat in their hands."
Butler made little noise at the plate early against Pine-Richland starting pitcher Matt Berezo.
Pine-Richland was the team with the boisterous offensive, chasing Butler starter C.J. Miller, who faced just five batters, surrendering three runs and getting no one out.
Florie had the quick hook because he saw the Rams had scouted Miller and were sitting back and taking his off-speed pitches.
"It seemed like they were going to get (Miller) today," Florie said.
He didn't give them a chance.
Ryan Fennell relieved Miller and got three outs while facing only two batters in the top of the first inning, thanks to a pickoff, a strikeout and a groundout.
Fennell pitched four strong innings of relief. His only mistake came when he left a fastball over the plate to P-R cleanup hitter Ron Peirish, who smashed a two-run homer to dead center to give the Rams a 5-0 lead in the third inning.
Butler (4-2, 0-2) didn't panic as Fennell kept the Tornado within striking distance, allowing Butler the opportunity to make its move in the sixth.
The rally started with two walks and four straight RBI hits. The big blow came later when John Crummy delivered a two-run double to cap the six-run outburst that chased Berezo.
Florie said he knew it was just a matter of time before his club would string together some hits against Berezo.
"We were hitting the ball hard," Florie said. "(Berezo) wasn't striking us out."
Butler's Tyler Slepski relieved Fennell in the fifth inning and pitched three scoreless innings for the save, striking out four and walking one.
After putting eight runners on base in the first three innings, the Rams managed only six more in the final four frames.
Thge loss left Pine-Richland coach Kurt Wolfe lamenting what might have been.
"I don't want to downplay what Butler did," Wolfe said. "They did a nice job, came back and won the ballgame. But we're not playing Pine-Richland baseball right now. It's frustrating. You let up a six-run inning, you aren't going to win many ballgames."
"That's a good baseball team, period, we beat tonight," Florie said. "We'll see where we go from here. We have a long way to go."

Pine-Richland 302 000 0 — 5 9 0
Butler 000 601 x — 7 11 0
W: Ryan Fennell 4 IP (4 K, 3 BB). L: Matt Berezo 3 2/3IP (2 K, 4 BB).
Pine-Richland (4-2, 0-2): Berezo 2B, 1B; Ron Peirish HR, 1B, 2-RBI; Russell Clark 3-1B, 2-RBI
Butler (7-1, 3-0): Mick Fennell 2-1B, RBI; Cody Herald 1B, RBI; John Crummy 2B, 2-RBI; Tyler Slepski 2-1B, RBI; Cody Montgomery 1B, RBI; Colin Williamson 2B, 1B, RBI