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.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
