Sign of things to come? Butler baseball thrashes Indiana before WPIAL playoffs start
Wednesday night was an apt showcase of what Josh Forbes’ bunch is capable of.
Against defending WPIAL Class 4A baseball champion Indiana — a co-champion of its section this time around — Butler’s Jett Cuffman, Kyle Casteel and Nolan Stefaniak combined to permit one hit on the mound, while the Golden Tornado offense banged out seven extra-base hits in a six-inning, 10-0 win.
Trent Best’s game-ending, three-run homer put an exclamation on Butler’s regular season. Forbes’ team awaits its seeding for the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs, already owning a Section 1 crown. The brackets will be released Friday.
“I honestly didn’t even know that was the run rule, that if we hit it (out),” said Best, who watched his first blast of the campaign clear the right-center field fence. “But I was just looking fastball inner-half, and he left it over the plate.”
Boden Lenyk and Mavrik Clement both had triples, while Preston Richter had two doubles and Blake Scott and Lenyk one each. The Golden Tornado (17-3) finish the regular season on a 10-game surge.
“Has it been 10 straight wins?” Forbes said. “Obviously, it’s awesome to blank a couple teams in a row and finish the season off on a six-game winning streak in section (play), and obviously you win a couple mid-week — oh, yeah, I guess it is. ... We’re catching a lot of momentum and we’re playing really good baseball right now heading into the playoffs.
“The only thing that really matters right now is tomorrow’s practice, and getting better at tomorrow’s practice.”
“It’s all one day at a time,” Best said. “We all trust what we do. We’re here every day — Sundays, 8 a.m. — working on the little things. You don’t get caught up in the wins.”
Indians (14-4) coach Dan Petroff knows what it takes to succeed in the postseason as the defending district champ. He believes Butler has it.
“They’ve got two legit arms, and I’m sure they’ve got a couple behind those guys,” Petroff said. “But even swinging the bats, they’re a complete team. ... I’m rooting for them to win it, and they’ve got enough talent to do it.”
Casteel and Stefaniak, West Virginia and Penn State commits, respectively, collaborated for 10 strikeouts and one walk. Shane McHugh’s single off Stefaniak to lead the top of the fifth broke up a combined no-hitter.
“I’m glad to see them both,” Petroff said. “There’s kids all the time in high school that say they throw ‘X’ miles per hour, and they’re not even close. ... They’re definitely legit with what they say they throw. They’ve got good off-speed stuff. Somebody’s really gonna have to grind to beat them.”
“Playing defense behind Nolan and Kyle makes it real easy,” Best said. “We have the offense. But you don’t need the offense when you have guys putting up numbers like that on the mound.”
For all the attention his team’s hurlers have received this go-round, Forbes estimated his batters have hit “12 or 13” home runs this season.
“Hopefully, if we get to the whole shebang, you have both of your (pitching) horses in one game, and that’d be pretty special to see, especially since I don’t think anybody else has two of what we have. Not to mention, I don’t think very many teams have the lineup that we have, too, 1-9.”
