They went to high school together, play baseball together and now live together at college.

Butler graduates Ryan Lynn, Nate Stutz and Shawn Marcellus seem to be a match set these days. Their baseball coaches aren't complaining.

They're proving to be a productive set at La Roche College under Knoch graduate Chase Rowe and with the Butler BlueSox under manager Dan Helgert as well.

“We've been best friends since we were 9 or 10 years old,” Marcellus said. “Now we're all roommates at school. I love it.”

“It just adds to the team chemistry,” Lynn said. “It wasn't planned, all three of us winding up together in baseball like this. It just worked out that way.”

While Stutz, a catcher, went to La Roche University straight out of high school, Marcellus and Lynn originally went to Wheeling Jesuit before transferring to La Roche.

Lynn and Marcellus began playing summer baseball for the Butler Iron Bucks two years ago. The BlueSox had not yet come back into existence.

When the BlueSox returned as a member of the Tri-State Collegiate League, Stutz joined the team. Helgert had managed the Iron Bucks, but switched over to the BlueSox and basically brought his team with him.

“The old Iron Bucks became the new BlueSox — and they just formed a new Iron Bucks team,” Lynn said in explaining the process.

Regardless how it happened, this Butler trio is proving vital to the BlueSox.

Marcellus is in the starting rotation. Stutz is the team's catcher and bats seventh in the lineup. Lynn is the BlueSox shortstop and hits second.

“The only way to get better is to keep playing,” Stutz said. “You can't get better by doing nothing. I want to hit and catch as many games as I can.

“Being able to play so much ball with these guys (Lynn and Marcellus) just adds to the fun of it.”

Helgert knew what he was getting in this Butler contingent.

Lynn hit .354 with four homers and 25 RBI for La Roche this spring as the Redhawks' starting shortstop. Stutz started behind the plate and hit a team-leading .406 with a homer and 14 RBI.

Marcellus had 20 strikeouts in 18.1 innings pitched at La Roche. He started a couple of games and pitched in relief.

“Shawn is a hammer. He always wants the ball,” Helgert said. “He's eating up the strike zone and he's a true team guy. He told me he's available any time I need him.”

Marcellus doesn't care whether he starts or pitches out of the bullpen.

“Whatever's best for the team, I'll do,” he said. “I'm working on my mechanics, my timing. My leg lift was off and Coach (Chase) Rowe was working with me on that at La Roche.

“I was much wilder with my pitches than I normally am. I'm starting to get my control back now.”

In the middle game of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) championship series against Penn State Behrend, Marcellus came out of the La Roche bullpen to pitch five scoreless innings, allowing no walks, only two hits and striking out five while keeping his team in the game.

Lynn had three hits — including a home run and triple — two RBI and three runs scored in a 9-4 win to begin that series. The Redhawks dropped the final two games, 6-4 and 7-5, to finish the season 20-3.

“We put in all that work and it didn't work out in the end,” Lynn said. “I just want to keep pushing myself. Get in the weight room, get stronger, get faster.

“Obviously, we want to come back and win the AMCC next year, get to the regional, the (Div. III) Colege World Series, win the whole thing.''

Helgert describes Lynn as “a beast of a player. He's a gap hitter who can drive the ball a long way.”

The BlueSox skipper said Stutz is “a solid catcher in all areas. I don't have to worry about a thing with him back there.”

The BlueSox took a 3-3 record into Thursday night's home game against the Black Sox at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park.

“When I first went to La Roche, I figured I wasn't going to know anybody, that I was going in there blind,” Stutz said. “When I found out Shawn and Ryan were coming, the idea of knowing somebody made things a lot easier.”

While Lynn admitted that summer baseball is a more relaxing atmosphere and that college ball is more serious about winning, he made one thing quite clear.

“We still want to win,” he declared. “We always want to win.”