BlueSox move into 1st place
Stefan Mrkonja is not a guy who swings for the fences and he certainly wasn't looking to send a two-strike offering from Chillicothe's Zack Harvey beyond the confines of Kelly Automotive Park.
But that's exactly where the ball landed. The two-run home run to left in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday gave the Butler BlueSox a two-run lead they would not surrender in a 7-3 Prospect League baseball win which, coupled with Champion City's 6-1 loss to West Virginia, has the Sox in sole possession of first place in the East Division.
Mrkonja's home run broke a 2-2 tie and was one of six extra-base hits in the game for Butler (25-19).
“I was just looking for a pitch to hit,” said the 5-foot-7 outfielder. “He left a fastball up in the zone and I was able to meet it.”
Butler's 41 home runs this season have come from 12 different players.
“When I got the roster before the season, I looked up each player's college stats and saw that there was a lot of power there,” said Butler manager Cody Herald. “Even the guys who didn't have a lot of home runs, there were a lot of doubles, so the potential for power was there.”
Butler starting pitcher Nick Bucci worked a perfect sixth inning before leaving the game. He moved his record to 5-1 after allowing two runs on seven hits. He struck out one, walked one and hit two batters. He gave up a run in the fourth and fifth frames, but stranded a combined five baserunners in those innings.
“He didn't have his best stuff,” Butler pitching coach Josh Forbes said of Bucci, “but was able to give us a chance to win because he was hitting his spots with most of his pitches.”
Jake Stout, Jamie Switalski and James Meeker followed Bucci on the mound, each pitching one inning. The lone offense the Paints (21-24) could muster in that span was Dalton Bollinger's solo home run in the eighth off of Switalski.
Harvey looked strong to begin the game, allowing just one run over the first four innings. But he was tagged with a second run in the fifth when Erek Bolton doubled and scored on Tanner Murphy's two-out base hit.
Harvey left the game following Mrkonja's blast in the next inning and was charged with four runs on seven hits. He tallied seven strikeouts and walked one.
“He's usually good at keeping the ball down in the zone, but left some balls up and to Butler's credit, they hit well tonight,” said Chillicothe assistant coach Drew Erie.
Mrkonja added a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the eighth inning and was one of four Butler players to manage two hits in the game — Murphy, Pavin Parks and Damian Maglione the others.
“We're dangerous as a lineup,” Mrkonja said. “One through nine, we can all hit home runs and if it's not one guy stepping up, it's another.”
Butler has 16 games remaining. The next seven are against either West Virginia or Champion City and will go a long way in determining whether or not the Sox are worthy of the postseason.
“I thought we looked tired tonight,” admitted Herald, “but these kids are so competitive, they're going to give everything they have every time they take the field.”
Butler hosts West Virginia tonight. The teams will finish a 3-3 game that was suspended by rain June 18, beginning at 5:45 p.m. The regularly scheduled game will follow.
Chillicothe 000 110 010 — 3 11 0
Butler 001 012 12x — 7 12 2
W: Nick Bucci 6 IP (1K, 1BB). L: Zack Harvey 5.2 IP (7K, 1BB).
Chillicothe (21-24): Chris Petrucci 1B, Neil Lambert R, Kyle Orloff 2-1B 2B R, Dalton Bollinger 1B HR, Tanner Piechnick 1B, Peyton Newsom 1B RBI, Drake Peggs 2-1B
Butler (25-19): Tanner Murphy 2-1B R RBI, Pavin Parks 1B 2B RBI, Kristian Webb 1B R, Rey Gonzalez 2B R, Stefan Mrkonja 3B HR 2R 3RBI, Damian Maglione 2-1B R RBI, Erek Bolton 2B R, Ben Carew 3B RBI
Today: West Virginia at Butler
