NA Falls At Butler, 5-2
Butler snapped a 10-game losing streak to North Allegheny and salvaged game three of their series with the Tigers by claiming a 5-2 win at Pullman Park on Friday night. Senior starter and Virginia Tech commit Madden Clement (1-0) limited the Tigers to one run on three hits in six innings of work for his first win of the season.
North Allegheny starting pitcher Andrew Hart, a Gardner Webb commit, blanked the Golden Tornado in the first inning but ran into some trouble with two outs in the second. Colin Casteel singled to left and advanced to second when freshman Mavrik Clement reached base on a strikeout wild pitch, which kept the inning alive for Butler. The GT’s capitalized on their opportunity as James Desmond walked to load the bases. Lance Slater followed with a bases loaded walk to score Casteel from third and Madden Clement added another bases loaded walk to bring in his brother, Mavrick, giving Butler a 2-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the third inning, Liam McElroy led off with a triple and scored moments later on an RBI groundout by Noah Collins to stretch the Butler lead to 3-0. In similar fashion in the fourth inning, Mavrik Clement led off with a double and crossed the plate two batters later on a RBI single by Slater for a 4-0 advantage.
Madden Clement struck out seven batters through the first four innings, but North Allegheny started to make better contact against the Butler southpaw in the late innings. Augie Maslo led off the top of the fifth with a double and later scored on an RBI groundout by Brett McSparran, trimming the deficit to 4-1.
Butler got the run back in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Mavrik Clement, increasing the GT’s lead to 5-1. The Tigers scored their final run in the top of the seventh when Anthony Varlotta singled, stole second base, reached third on a throwing error and scored when outfielder Mac Schnur booted the ball in centerfield to trim the deficit to 5-2. Along with a dazzling catch in left field in the second inning, Anthony Varlotta was named the Wright Automotive Player of Game.
Butler reliever James Desmond finished off the seventh inning to salvage the third game of the series for the GT’s.
For North Allegheny, Hart (0-1) suffered the loss with three innings, allowing three earned runs with three walks and three strikeouts. Relievers Cole Suba, Nicolas Varlotta and Greg Schmidt each worked one inning on the bump. Nicolas Varlotta struck out the side for an impressive and efficient 1-2-3 fifth inning.
On the season, North Allegheny falls to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in Section 1-6A, while Butler improves to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the section. The Tigers return to action on Monday night with a home section game against Allderdice. The game will be broadcast live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.
Line Score - Baseball vs. Butler - 04/12/2023
| Score by Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Allegheny | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Butler | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | X | 5 | 6 | 3 |