Elliott Caldwell struggled at Winthrop University this spring.

As a freshman with the Eagles, Caldwell batted a mere .217 with only one extra base hit and one RBI.

Things are much different this summer for Caldwell, a native of Easley, S.C., who has taken well to life in the north as a member of the Butler BlueSox.

Caldwell went 3-for-4, smashed two opposite-field home runs, scored three runs, stole two bases and had four RBIs to lead the BlueSox to a 10-5 win over Richmond at Pullman Park Sunday night.

Caldwell raised his average to .409 in the final game of the first half of the Prospect League season. The average leads the circuit.

“I’ve been consistent and I’ve really worked hard on what I am doing,” Caldwell said. “I struggled this year in college, so I wanted to come here and rebuild my confidence early, which I did, and keep improving.”

Caldwell has done that, too. He’s been torrid at the plate in the last week, batting .577 (15-of-26) with two homers, two doubles, two triples and 13 RBIs.

In that span, Butler (18-12) has scored 59 runs.

“He started off the year in the leadoff spot, then we got Brandan Constantino in here and he’s more of a leadoff guy,” said Butler manager Anthony Rebyanski. “We moved Elliott down to the No. 2 spot. That’s one fast guy after another and Elliott has been banging balls all over the ballpark. It’s been working.

“Elliott is seeing the ball and hitting the ball hard to all parts of the field,” Rebyanski added.

Constantino has provided a spark, as well.

He went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored. The shortstop is now batting .412 in nine games.

Constantino and Caldwell helped Butler build a 6-0 lead after two innings against Richmond (15-15) Sunday.

Kyle Petty hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning and Caldwell hit the first of his two longballs in the second frame.

Richmond, though, chipped away at the lead with a single run in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings to close the gap to 6-4.

Butler, though, tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh and Caldwell hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to pad the BlueSox lead.

It was an important win for Butler, which was coming off a 13-10 loss to the RiverRats Saturday in a game it led 7-5 late.

“Everyone is picking each other up,” Rebyanski said. “No matter what the outcome. We lose (Saturday) night, and there is still positive things going on. I exchanged text messages with some players and they are just focusing on the positive.”

There were a lot of positives for the BlueSox from the first half, even though the club finished three games behind first-half East Division champion West Virginia.

The pitching staff was second in the league in strikeouts with 264 and was second in the circuit in hitting with a .303 batting average.

“I feel like we have the best pitching and hitting in the league,” Caldwell said. “If we can put it all together, I think we’ll be OK.”

Rebyanski doesn’t know how long his team’s scoring binge will last.

“We have another 30 games,” Rebyanski said, smiling. “So, I hope 30 more games.”

Richmond 000 111 110 — 5 11 1

Butler 420 000 22x — 10 14 0

W: Brett Sullivan 6.1IP (4K, 2BB). L: Alex Sroka 6IP (3K, 3BB).

Richmond (15-15): Jake Welch 3B RBI, Justin Pearson 2-1B, Jake Mahon 1B, Derek Trovillion 2-HR 1B 3-RBI, Dwayne Hysmith Jr. 1B, Kyle Bischoff 1B, Michael Meredith 2B, Raymond Devalle 1B

Butler (18-12): Brendan Constantino 2-2B 1B 3-R, Elliott Caldwell 2-HR 1B 3-R 2-SB 4-RBI, Kyle Petty HR 3-RBI, George Roberts 3-1B, Alex Miklos 1B, Neal Jacobs 1B RBI

Tuesday: Butler at West Virginia