The Butler Bulldogs will challenge the Mallard Creek Mavericks at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Butler's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They blew past Garinger 13-0. With that win, the Bulldogs brought their scoring average up to 7.4 runs per game.
Ryan Semm made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Semm was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing Two bases. while going 1-for-2. Those runs marked the first that he scored this season.
Semm wasn't the only one making solid contact as two players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Grayson DeBerry, who scored a run while going 2-for-2. Another was Jhanuel Ramos, who scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in both of his plate appearances.
Butler always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .640. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, Mallard Creek had to endure a five-game losing streak dating back to last season, but that streak is no more. Everything went their way against West Charlotte on Tuesday as Mallard Creek made off with an 11-0 victory. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Mavericks' hitters, who had struggled in the games prior.
Lenton Williams was a standout: he went a perfect 2-for-2 with two triples, two runs, and one RBI. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in triples. The team also got some help courtesy of Andrew Brissie, who scored two runs and stole Two bases. while going 1-for-3.
Butler's win was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-2. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 10.5 runs. As for Mallard Creek, their victory (their first of the season) made their record 1-4.
Everything went Butler's way against Mallard Creek in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, as Butler made off with a 9-2 win. Does Butler have another victory up their sleeve, or will Mallard Creek turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.