What a relief

What a relief
Swartwout's pitching bails out Butler vs. Raiders

JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley made a late push, but Bobby Swartwout pushed back.
Making his first pitching appearance of the season, Swartwout relieved Zach Sessa in the seventh inning and retired three of the four batters he faced to preserve Butler's 10-7 baseball victory Wednesday at Raider Field.
The Raiders (3-6, 2-4) had scored five runs in the seventh before Swartwout put out the fire.
"You never know what's going to happen in this game," Butler coach Dave Florie said. "They had a couple of balls fall in, got the big hit and all of a sudden, they've got something going."
Brad Johnson began the SV seventh with a single to left. Sam Fragale walked and Brad Collier singled to left, loading the bases. Jake Double reached on an infield error, scoring a run, before Pete Vicente belted a grand slam to left.
Exit Sessa, who threw only 72 pitches in the first six innings, and enter Swartwout.
"Bobby has been looking good in practice and it was time to see what he could do in a game," Florie said. "He's altered his pitching motion somewhat. He was my No. 2 pitcher today regardless of what point we needed him.
"I liked him in this situation because he handles pressure well. Maybe that comes from his time as a basketball player, I don't know."
Swartwout induced four ground balls, including one that was misplayed for an error, in ending the game.
Both teams hit grand slams — Mickey Fennell drilled one down the right-field line in the third inning for Butler — and neither team had a batter strike out.
"That's one positive we can take away from this," SV coach Eric Semega said of his hitters making contact. "But we continually put ourselves in big holes.
"This was the fifth straight game we've trailed by at least five runs after two innings. You can't win games that way," he added.
The Raiders rallied from such a deficit to defeat North Hills, but they've since lost four consecutive games and were outscored 37-20 along the way.
Butler (9-2, 5-1) had a 9-0 lead by the third inning. Swartwout delivered a sacrifice fly in the first, Tyler Slepski and John Crummy had RBI doubles in a four-run second and Fennell hit his grand slam in the third inning.
Florie described the no-strikeout game as "very, very rare in high school baseball."
Fennell had six RBI for Butler, Crummy had three hits and Slepski had two doubles to highlight a 12-hit attack for the Golden Tornado.
Collier and losing pitcher Justin Stanger had two singles each for Seneca Valley.

Butler 144 010 0 — 10 12 4
Seneca Valley 002 000 5 — 7 9 4
W: Zach Sessa 6 IP (0K, 1BB). L: Justin Stanger 5 IP (0K, 2BB).
Butler (9-2, 5-1): Mickey Fennell HR 6-RBI, Roman Bargo 1B RBI 2-R, John Crummy 2B 2-1B RBI, Bobby Swartwout RBI, Ryan Fennell 1B 2B, Cody Montgomery 1B 2-R, Cody Herald 1B, Tyler Slepski 2-2B RBI 3-R, Colin Williamson 1B
Seneca Valley (3-6, 2-4): Brad Collier 2-1B 2-R RBI, Jake Double 1B RBI, Pete Vicente HR 4-RBI, Justin Stanger 2-1B, Jack Grahm 1B, Brad Johnson 1B, Sam Fragale 2B 2-R