Closing
time
Butler's Hays gets clutch save in 8-5 victory
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
BUTLER TWP — Todd Erdos didn't figure on needing him.
Dallas Hays was there regardless.
Butler's closer retired the only two batters
he faced in the seventh inning, snuffing out a furious rally and enabling the
Golden Tornado baseball team to hold on for an 8-5 victory over visiting Upper
St. Clair Wednesday night.
The non-section win was the third straight for
“I wasn't expecting to use Dallas tonight, not
the way this game was going,” Butler coach Erdos admitted. “We never even
warmed him up properly or got him loose.
“Still, he came in and threw strikes. That was
big.”
The Tornado took an 8-2 lead into the seventh
inning. Alec Bayer had pitched scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth,
striking out three.
But a walk, infield error and infield single
quickly loaded the bases for the Panthers (5-8) with no one out in the seventh.
Matt Colton's groundout plated one run. After a hit batsman, Connor Brennan's
single to center plated two more.
That brought the tying run to the plate — and
Hays to the mound.
“We tried to extend Alec into a third inning
of work there and he hasn't pitched much,” Erdos said. “I think he just got a
little tired.”
Hays slammed the door, striking out Spencer
Lohman and getting Tom Bash to hit a soft liner to first to end the game.
Butler won the game despite managing just five
hits. The biggest was a two-run single by Nathan Kibbie that highlighted a
four-run fourth inning. The Tornado scored three runs in the second on just one
hit.
The Panthers committed three errors, walked
two batters and hit another during that frame.
“That's how it's been going for us lately,”
USC coach Jerry Malarkey said. “We have the one bad inning where we make a lot
of mistakes and fall behind early.
“Then we don't get enough hits when we need
them. We certainly had the chances tonight.”
The Panthers accumulated 11 hits and had the
leadoff man on base in each of the seven innings.
“We only scored in three of those innings. We
have to do better than that,” Malarkey said.
USC has dropped five of its last six
games.
Four of the Panthers' five hitters reached
base in the fourth. One was cut down when Robbie Saghy failed to get a suicide
squeeze bunt down. Saghy ended that at bat with a single, but courtesy runner
Alex King was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on a double
into the left-center field gap.
Shortstop Cade Negley's relay throw nailed
Saghy at the plate.
“Sometimes you have to win with defense. We
made the plays tonight,” Erdos said.
Donovan Thompson was the winning pitcher for
Butler, allowing one run in four innings. He struck out four with no
walks.
“Donovan has thrown well every time we've
given him the opportunity,” Erdos said.
Upper St. Clair 000 110 3 — 5 11 4
Butler 030 401 x — 8 5 1
W: Donovan Thompson 4IP (4K, 0BB). L: Matt
Colton 2IP (0K, 2BB).
Upper St. Clair (5-8): Dom Cepullio 2-1B,
Andrew Wheeler 2-1B RBI, Matt Colton 1B RBI, Jack Martin 1B, Connor Brennan 2B
1B 2-RBI, Spencer Lohman RBI, Robbie Saghy 1B, Tanner Cicchini 2B, Jason Ferrie
2B
Butler (7-3): Nathan Kibbie 1B 2-RBI, Hunter
Scott 1B, Cade Negley RBI, Connor Ollio 1B, Nocolasd Kibbie 1B 3-R, Brandon
Hildebrand RBI, Tyler Markalinski 2B RBI