Tossing fire
Connor Coward was holding up his end of the deal; it was Butler's offense that was lagging behind.
That is, until Brady Gulakowski came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth.
Coward worked out of several jams early in Butler's Prospect League baseball game Tuesday evening against Champion City.
The game remained scoreless, however, as Kings' pitcher Jake Vance was working on a perfect game through five innings.
Rey Gonzalez was Butler's first baserunner, managing a base hit to lead off the sixth. Pavin Parks then drew a walk. With two outs, Gulakowski crushed a fastball from Vance over the right-center field wall. The blast gave the Sox a 3-0 lead they would not surrender in a 6-3 victory at Kelly Automotive Park.
“The second the ball came off the bat, I said, 'That's outta here,'” said Coward, who earned the win with nine strikeouts and one walk in 6 2/3 innings. “He ran into that pitch and those were three big runs for us.”
The offensive momentum carried over into the seventh inning for Butler. Leading 3-2, Butler loaded the bases before Parks drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Tanner Murphy singled in two more runs with reliever Austin Marchant on the mound, pushing the lead to 6-2.
Vance went from retiring the first 12 batters he faced to shouldering the loss with six runs allowed. He struck out eight and walked three.
“We've seen him (Vance) a couple of times,” said Butler manager Cody Herald. “He has good stuff and was keeping our hitters off-balance, but our guys started getting the timing down on his pitches.”
Coward was shaky to begin the game. The Kings loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first, but the Seneca Valley graduate struck out Tanner Burns, Alexander Garland and Noah West to douse the threat.
In the second frame, Brandon Giltrow singled to lead off and moved to second base on a fielding error. But again, Champion City came away empty-handed as Coward retired the next three batters.
“He did struggle a bit tonight,” Herald said of Coward, “but with runners on base, you can't ask for anything more. That's the type of kid he is. He'll give you everything he has.”
“I wasn't as sharp at the beginning of the game,” admitted Coward. “I felt fine physically, but when I was releasing the ball, I don't know, it just felt weird. I think I got away with a little bit, too, maybe because they (Kings) hadn't seen me yet this year.”
Coward gave up a single in both the third and fourth innings, but continued to keep the Kings off the scoreboard. He worked perfect fifth and sixth frames before allowing a pair of runs in the seventh. Seth Gray's two-out, two-run double spelled the end of Coward's outing, but the latter remained in line for the win thanks to reliever Jamie Switalski, who struck out Jack Schaaf with the tying run at second base.Switalski pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing one run in earning the save.Tuesday's win was the first for Butler in eight games against the Kings (20-12) this season. The Sox can claim the three-game series with a win tonight.Herald believes Butler (15-15) is in good shape as the second half of the season begins.“I know we didn't show it tonight with just four hits, but we have a really good offense,” he said. “We now have more pitchers in our bullpen.“Some players think, 'It's summer baseball. Let's just have fun.' Well, we want our guys to have fun and they are, but we also want to win.”Champion City 000 000 201 — 3 9 0Butler 000 003 30x — 6 4 1W: Connor Coward 6.2 IP (9K, 1BB). L: Jake Vance 6.2 IP (8K, 3BB). S: Jamie Switalski 2.1 IP (1K, 1BB).Champion City (20-12): Zach Jones 2-1B 2R, Seth Gray 3-1B 2B 3RBI, Tanner Burns 1B, Brandon Giltrow 1B, Phil Wells 1B, Justin Stinson RButler (15-15): Tanner Murphy 1B 2RBI, Brady Gulakowski HR 3RBI, Kristian Webb 3B R, Patrick Ferguson R, Rey Gonzalez 1B 2R, Pavin Parks R RBIToday: Champion City at Butler
