Retzer's Revenge
In his last start, Justin Retzer was knocked around by Butler's offense.
Monday night, West Virginia's pitcher got a little payback.
Retzer, a graduate of Ford City High School, shut out the BlueSox on a single hit through seven innings in the Miners' 4-0 victory at Kelly Automotive Park.
In an 11-1 win July 16, the Sox tagged Retzer with five runs in four innings. He walked four in that game, but struck out six and walked just one on Monday.
“The timing with planting his front leg was better tonight,” said Miners' manager Tim Epling. “That allowed him to get his arm into a better slot and that settled him down tonight.
“Justin has pitched well several times for us this season, but he ran into some bad luck.”
Retzer allowed a leadoff single to Butler's Andrew Chuba in the bottom of the first inning before retiring 17 straight batters. That streak was snapped when Chuba reached on an error in the sixth.
Jeff Wehler drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, but was caught trying to steal second base. Retzer got out of the inning with no trouble moments later, signaling the end to his outing.
“He filled the zone tonight and was able to keep our hitters off-balance,” said Butler manager Cody Herald of Retzer.
Knoch High graduate Cole Shinsky took the loss after working 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and three free passes.
He issued back-to-back walks in the second inning and paid for it as a sacrifice bunt from Dalton Cornett and a sacrifice fly from Bryson Wallett got the Miners (23-25) on the board.
Another walk in the fifth frame, this one to Wallett, led to a second run when Mike Santaromita drilled an RBI-triple to right-center.
Shinsky retired the first batter of the sixth inning before being relieved by Josh Bell due to the pitch-count rule. The former threw 87 pitches, 51 of them for strikes.
“It was a quality start by Cole tonight,” said Butler pitching coach Josh Forbes. “Most of his outings have been quality starts. One thing we are working on with him is taking command of both sides of the plate. Sometimes, he doesn't trust his stuff.
“Tonight, he goes out and gets through the first inning on 15 or so pitches, then walks the first two batters in the second. It would be great if we could get six innings out of him.”
Bell was not helped by his defense as one error in the sixth led to a pair of unearned runs. Bell and Travis Holman combined to allow no earned runs over the final 3 2/3 innings.
Nick Mancuso and Wehler both singled for Butler in the eight and ninth, respectively, but West Virginia relievers Milo Sklar and Hunter Sexton both kept the Sox off the scoreboard.
The BlueSox (20-30) will host Lafayette in a two-game series beginning Wednesday.
West Virginia 010 012 000 — 4 8 2
Butler 000 000 000 — 0 3 1
W: Justin Retzer 7 IP (6K, 1BB). L: Cole Shinsky 5.1 IP (6K, 3BB).
West Virginia (23-25): Dylan Shockley 3B R, Dalton Cornett 1B R RBI, Bryson Wallett 1B R RBI, Mike Santaromita 1B 3B RBI
Butler (20-30): Andrew Chuba 1B, Jeff Wehler 1B, Nick Mancuso 1B
Wednesday: Lafayette at Butler
