Tornado score early, but offense stalls in loss to NA
The Butler baseball team got to North Allegheny starting pitcher Ryan Oglesby early.
The problem was the Golden Tornado couldn't get to him again.
Butler scored two runs on four hits against Oglesby in the bottom of the first inning at Pullman Park Monday, but managed only one more hit off the Tigers right-hander in the next five frames in a 6-3 loss.
"Is that all he gave up?" asked Butler coach Dave Florie. "The way we are swinging the bat, I'm pretty confident, so he must have been pretty effective for us not to get hits against him."
Greg Piehler worked a scoreless seventh inning for North Allegheny to earn the save.
Tigers coach Andy Maddix thought about sending Oglesby to the mound in the seventh, but had misgivings.
"He threw a ton of pitches in the first inning," Maddix said. "That had something to do with why he couldn't finish the game on a cold day at this time of the year."
Oglesby's performance overshadowed a strong outing by Butler starter Joe Marak.
The right-hander worked quickly, threw strikes and gave up four runs, three earned, in five innings.
Butler gave Marak a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on RBI hits by John Crummy and Tanner Master.
North Allegheny responded with two runs in the top of the second on a two-out, two-run single by leadoff hitter Jeff Dassner.
Butler's first hit since the first inning resulted in an RBI double by Evan Oswald in the fourth inning to give Butler a short-lived 3-2 lead.
The Tigers scored two runs off Marak in the top of the fifth on run-scoring singles by Justin Brozick and Jackson Boyd.
NA tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh, only one earned.
Despite the loss, Florie had little to quibble about.
"It didn't come up as a W, but I thought we pitched OK and made some nice plays on defense and hung in there at bat against a couple of good pitchers," Florie said.
North Allegheny 020 020 2 6 11 0Butler 200 100 0 3 6 3W: Ryan Oglesby (6 IP) 2 K, 1 BB.
L: Joe Marak (5 IP) 2 K, 1 BB.
North Allegheny (7-1, 3-0): Jeff Dassner 1B, 2-RBI; Sean Oglesby 2-1B; Justin Brozick 2-1B, RBI; Brad Comport 1B, 3B, RBI; Nick Butterini 2B
Butler (7-4, 2-2): Cody Herald 2B; John Crummy 1B, RBI; Tanner Master 1B, RBI; Evan Oswald 2B, 1B, RBI
Friday: Butler at Fox Chapel
