Schott down: Sox beat DuBois
Behind a dominating pitching effort from Kevin Schott, the Butler BlueSox earned a long-awaited win Friday night.
It had been nearly three weeks since the team tasted victory.
Schott threw seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out 10, as the Sox beat a very strong DuBois squad 4-1 at Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Historic Pullman Park.
“He's been solid all year for us, has gone deep into games,” Butler manager Dan Helgert said of Schott, “but this was his best effort. He was a monster, just shoved it all night.”
It wasn't the smoothest start to a game. Schott walked Anthony Rago and Isaac Stouffer and surrendered a single to Dan Manion in the top of the first inning, but left the bases loaded.
The final out of the frame, a strikeout of Lance Baldensperger, began a string of 15 of 16 batters retired by Schott, a left-hander.
The Sox, whose previous victory came June 19, have been struggling at the plate and in one respect, that continued. They tallied just four hits off of DuBois pitchers Broc Weigle and Dan Manion.
But Butler High graduate Nathan Stutz delivered the biggest hit of the game in the bottom of the first inning.
Following free passes to Alex Altmire and Korey Shoupe, Stutz launched an offering from Weigle deep to left-center. The ball came just several feet from going over the wall and Stutz pulled up at third with a two-run triple.
“Being able to get Kevin an early lead like that, it was big,” said Stutz. “It feels good to win, it'd been a while.”
“That hit took some pressure off Kevin,” added Helgert. “We've been playing from behind all year.”
Butler (6-11) extended its lead to 4-0.
In the third, Altmire singled and moved to second when Ryan Lynn walked. The former stole third and scored on an errant throw from catcher Luke Salvo.
Jake McNabb hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth that scored Tyler Hettich, who had doubled to begin the inning.
Weigle's outing ended after six innings. He allowed four runs on four hits with six strikeouts and seven walks.
Travis Mowery took over for Schott at the start of the eighth, but allowed the first two batters to reach via free passes.
Sean Furlong took the mound and struck out four in two innings to earn the save.
DuBois (14-3) avoided the shutout when Isaac Stouffer singled home Brandon Walker with one out in the ninth.
DuBois 000 000 001 — 1 4 2 BlueSox 201 001 00x — 4 4 0 W: Kevin Schott 7 IP (10K, 3BB). L: Broc Weigle 6 IP (6K, 7BB). S: Sean Furlong 2 IP (4K, 1BB). DuBois (14-3): Isaac Stouffer 2-1B RBI BlueSox (6-11): Alex Altmire 1B 2R, Nathan Stutz 3B 2RBI, Tyler Hettich 2B R Sunday: Iron Bucks vs. BlueSox, 7 p.m.
