Pitching drives BlueSox victory
While the Butler BlueSox have been short on pitching lately, Tim Geil and Danny Fawcett were long on effort Wednesday night at Pullman Park.
The two right-handers combined for a four-hitter and struck out 11 as the BlueSox defeated the Prospect League West Division-leading Springfield Sliders, 5-1.
Geil, a Gibsonia resident and Shady Side Academy graduate, allowed two hits in 5X\c innings, striking out eight and walking four. He took the mound after the start of the game was delayed 85 minutes by rain.
"That's tough on a starting pitcher because baseball players are creatures of habit," BlueSox manager Jason Wuerfel said. "It's hard to get into your pre-game routine when you're not sure when or if the game's going to start."
Geil had no problem. In Wuerfel's words, he was "wildly effective."
"That was probably it," Geil said, smiling. "When I got my pitches in the zone, they weren't getting good swings on them.
"After the delay, as a pitcher, you just have to bear down and focus. I thought our whole team did that tonight."
An incoming sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering at Columbia University, Geil entered the game with a 1.77 earned run average but only six strikeouts in 20Z\c innings.
He took advantage of a Springfield team that carries a .228 batting average.
"We've been able to put together innings when we need them, but not tonight," Sliders assistant coach Jeff Brown said. "Their starter kept the ball down most of the time, and when we did square him up, there was nobody on base."
The BlueSox (8-9) used their running game to generate offense Wednesday. Colby Roberts and Kevan Smith each stole second before scoring in the third inning. Tyler Sciacca singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth.
Austin Wulf walked to lead off the seventh, moved up two bases on wild pitches and scored when Smith singled past a drawn-in infield.
"We needed the running game because we didn't square up too many pitches tonight," Wuerfel said. "Our guys did a good job of reading pitches in the dirt in this game."
The BlueSox put together a two-out rally to score in the sixth. Logan Uxa singled to right and Zach Duggan singled to left before Roberts followed with a run-scoring double.
Butler's bats produced only four other hits in the game.
Roberts was hitting .188 with six hits in 32 at-bats before Tuesday night's game. He has four hits in seven at-bats since.
"We were a little short-handed on that last road trip and I needed a game where pitchers could eat some innings," Wuerfel said. "Timmy and Danny did that tonight. Danny was outstanding and I told him I was going to ride him as long as he was effective.
"Tim didn't have his 'A' stuff tonight, but a good pitcher finds ways to get outs and make a quality start anyway. That's what he did tonight."
Springfield 000 010 000 — 1 4 2Butler 002 101 10x — 5 7 0W: Tim Geil 5X\c IP (8K, 4BB).
L: Zach Kenyon 5X\c IP (5K, 4BB).
Springfield (10-5): Bryce Redeker 1B, Clay Cuno 2B 1B RBI, Cody Coffman 1B
Butler (8-9): Jon Craycraft RBI, Kevan Smith 1B RBI, John Sulzicki 1B RBI, Tyler Sciacca 1B, Logan Uxa 1B, Zach Duggan 1B, Colby Roberts 1B 2B RBI
