Baseball Recap: Butler Takes a Loss

Butler had lost three straight at home, but on Thursday they dropped their record down to 8-4 to make it four. They fell just short of the Pine-Richland Rams by a score of 2-0. The match marked the first time this year in which the Golden Tornado were not able to get on the board.

Butler got a good showing from Kyle Casteel, who pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Casteel has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances.

As for Pine-Richland, the win (which was their sixth in a row) raised their record to 11-1. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games.

On Pine-Richland's side, not much got past Noah Mackie, who gave up just three hits to keep Butler off the board.

At the plate, Pine-Richland saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ben Husted, who went 1-for-3 with one triple and one run.

Butler and Pine-Richland should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps Pennsylvania Rankings. The Golden Tornado will square off against Central Catholic at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday with a big rank advantage (42 vs. 266). The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Butler 3.4, the Vikings 3.7) so any runs scored will be well earned. Meanwhile, Pine-Richland (ranked fifth) will meet Shaler Area (ranked 88th) at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (the Rams 1.8, the Titans 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.