HORIZON LEAGUE BASEBALL Butler outscores, eliminates UWM

There were 35 hits, including 15 for extra bases.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- Butler and UW-Milwaukee battled for their tournament life in the loser's bracket Thursday night at Eastwood Field.
Butler outlasted the Panthers 15-12 to stay alive in the Horizon League tournament, while UW-Milwaukee suffered its second loss of the day and was eliminated.
It was a game that saw a combined 27 runs and 35 hits. Fifteen of the hits were for extra bases and 13 of those were by the Bulldogs.
"It was a typical Butler-Milwaukee battle," said Butler coach Steve Farley. "These two teams have been in a lot of big battles over the years."
"I know that I and Milwaukee coach Jerry Augustine would have liked to have seen a real pitchers battle since we were both pitchers, but you have to take what you can get in these situations and we needed the win."
Butler back in action
Farley doesn't feel that the 3-hour plus game will take anything away from the Bulldogs, who were scheduled to play today at 2:30 p.m. against Detroit, which eliminated Wright State on Thursday, 7-3.
"I don't think it will take anything away from us," said Farley. "We get better the more we play and hopefully this will get us going again.
"We lost a tough game to Youngstown State in the opener and this team showed a lot of guts tonight coming back from that disappointing loss," he added.
The Panthers erupted for five runs in the top of the first inning on five hits, including a two-run single by Ben Stanczyk.
The Bulldogs' first four hits were all doubles and they scored single runs in the first and second, but still trailed 7-2.
In the third inning Butler broke the game open with a nine-run rally that included eight hits, including a solo home run by Matt Crews and a three-run homer by Ryan Nance. The Bulldogs sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning.
Nance had four hits that included a pair of doubles and the homer, while designated hitter Andy Bulla also had four hits, including two doubles, and drove in three runs.
Milwaukee came back with a pair of runs in the fourth to cut the margin to 11-9, but the Bulldogs answered with two more in their half of the inning.
The Panthers blew a big opportunity in the seventh when they loaded the bases with nobody out, but only managed to score one run as reliever Patrick Feeney came on and shut them down.
The Panthers added a run in the eighth without a hit, then Stanczyk hit a towering home run in the ninth for the final run.
Detroit 7, Wright State 3
Jason Chapieski hit three hits, while Tim Poley added two and pitched 51/3 innings to get the victory as Detroit eliminated Wright State.
The Titans jumped out to a 6-1 lead after five innings, while the Raiders added a pair of runs in the sixth, but could get no more.
Matt Barhorst, Chris Jergens and Dan Biedenharn all had two hits for the Raiders (22-34).