Sure Thing
BUTLER TWP — Leads had slipped from Butler Township’s grasp twice in Thursday’s Butler County Area Baseball League game against Pine Richland.
With one swing of the bat, however, Colin Patterson replaced the frustration with a much-needed victory.
With the contest knotted at 12 in the bottom of the seventh, Patterson drilled Connolly Barrett’s pitch over the fence in right field for a two-run homer, handing Butler a wild 14-12 win.
The effort snapped a three-game losing streak for the hosts (10-4).
“We just hit a slump, primarily on offense,” BT manager Ty Friel said of recent losses to East Butler, Cranberry Township and Freeport. “It was nice to see the offense break out tonight.”
The double-elimination playoff tournament begins next week for the six-team league.
“This win clinches a bye for us, so it was a big victory,” Friel added.
Butler had tagged Pine Richland starting pitcher Ethan Wygant with 10 runs on nine hits in five-plus innings. He was replaced by Barrett with two on and none out in the sixth. Trailing 11-9, Butler had two base runners thrown out at the plate in the frame, but an RBI-single from Karter Weitzel and a two-run base hit courtesy of Kaleb Wojnar gave their team a 12-11 lead entering the seventh.
PR quickly tied the game as Joe Connell led off the next half inning with a triple and scored on a wild pitch. Ryan Hepfl, the third and final Butler pitcher, escaped the inning with no further damage.
Kyle Yost took first base after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the inning, setting the stage for Patterson’s walk-off blast.
“It was a fastball and I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it,” Patterson said. “We did a good job of limiting big innings (for PR) earlier in the game. There were several times we could have allowed a lot more runs than we did.”
One of those instances came in the top of the sixth. With the game tied at nine, PR tallied four straight hits to begin the frame, taking an 11-9 edge. But against Hepfl, Pine Richland stranded the bases loaded.
“These guys are a resilient bunch,” said Friel. “They know the game and they know they have the ability to go out and make the plays that can win a game. Tonight is a positive indicator of where we are.”
Butler jumped out to an 8-3 lead after three innings. Following a three-spot from PR in the top of the fourth, Mattix Clement belted a solo home run in the bottom of the frame for a 9-6 edge.
Clement finished the game a double shy of the cycle. Wojnar, Weitzel and Patterson each collected three RBI.
Logan Koegler started on the mound for Butler and worked four innings. Weitzel pitched the fifth frame.
Wygant singled four times for Pine Richland (4-10), the two-time defending league champion.
Pine Richland 120 332 1 — 12 14 2
Butler Twp. 503 103 2 — 14 14 4
W: Ryan Hepfl 2 IP (3K, 1BB). L: Connolly Barrett 2 IP (0K, 0BB).
Pine Richland: Brett Jones 2-1B R RBI, Connolly Barrett 2-1B 2RBI, Joe Connell 3B R RBI, Braiden Smalley 2-1B 2R, Ethan Wygant 4-1B 3R RBI
Butler Township: Ethan Trettel 2-1B 2B R RBI, Colin Patterson HR 3RBI, Mattix Clement 1B 3B HR 3R, Karter Weitzel 2-1B 3R 3RBI, Kaleb Wojnar 2-1B R 3RBI
Saturday: Slippery Rock at Pine Richland
