Rally halted
The Butler baseball team seemed to be primed for a seventh-inning comeback, but Mount Lebanon's Ian Happ pulled the plug on the Golden Tornado's rally.
Happ entered the game with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning and his team leading 6-2.
He got John Crummy to pop out and Tanner Master to foul out, preserving the Blue Devils' victory Monday afternoon at Pullman Park.
"For a freshman to come in with the tying run at the plate, on the road, and throw strikes, that was impressive," said Blue Devils coach Pat McCloskey said of Happ, who moved from his second-base position to close the door on Butler.
Pitcher Kevin Ostergaard started for Mount Lebanon and pitched three scoreless innings before Butler collected its two runs on seven hits in the last four innings off of the junior right-hander, who earned the win after striking out four and walking two.
The Tornado (4-2) trailed 6-0 when Ryan Fennell led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a triple to left-center field.
Courtesy runner Tyler Weist scored on a wild pitch to get Butler on the board.
In Butler's half of the fifth, Dustin Uhlman and Crummy had back-to-back singles, with Uhlman moving to third base on Master's fielder's choice and scoring on a Blue Devils throwing error.
The Tornado's offense kept the pressure on Ostergaard, as Nick Bole's double to start the bottom of the seventh was followed by Cody Herald's infield single.
Ostergaard got Dave Schmidt to ground out, but walked Uhlman, prompting McCloskey to bring in Happ.
"I told the team that I was proud of the way they kept battling," said Butler coach Dave Florie. "These are the games you can pull out if you keep competing."
Taking the loss for Butler was starter Matt Monnie, who struck out six and walked six in three innings.
He got into trouble in the top of the second inning by issuing walks to four straight batters, two of which came with the bases loaded.
He also surrendered a run-scoring single to Jeremy Tiedeman in the top of the third that put the Blue Devils (2-2) up 3-0.
Alek Bollinger pitched the fourth for the Golden Tornado, giving up three runs on two hits, with a fielding error being committed behind him.
Zac Sessa pitched three 1-2-3 innings to close the game.
Mount Lebanon 021 300 0—6 5 1Butler 000 110 0—2 9 1WP: Kevin Ostergaard (6Z\c IP) 4 strikeouts, 2 walks.
LP: Matt Monnie (3 IP) 6 strikeouts, 6 walks
Mt. Lebanon (2-2): Kevin Ostergaard R RBI, Tom Sims 1B R RBI, Adam Soodik 2-1B 2R, Eddie Gavett 1B R, Jeremy Tiedeman 1B R RBI, Quinn Difenderfer RBI
Butler (4-2): Cody Herald 2-1B, Dustin Uhlman 1B R, John Crummy 1B, Evan Oswald 1B, Tanner McCaw 1B, Bobby Swartwout 1B, Ryan Fennell 3B, Nick Bole 2B, Tyler Weist R
Wednesday: Butler at Ellwood City
