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It was an absolutely perfect spring afternoon Saturday in Chicago, as UIC squared off against the Butler Bulldogs for a double header. UIC is in the midst of a Bill Russel led Celtics-esque dynasty, having won the last six Horizon league championships.
They dominated the early game, winning 11-6. The day’s second tilt proved to be a far more difficult beast to tame, however.
By the time I got there in the top of the third, Butler was ahead by a run. UIC had Grant Kohldtaedt on the mound. For the season, he had a 32 record with a 5.50 ERA. With a man on base, Colin Zigel was on the playe and zipped a line drive in between a gap on the right hand side of the infield. UIC’s right fielder bobbled the ball after grabbing it, and the runner scored to put the Bulldogs ahead by two.
Kohldtaedt stuck out Nate Hart looking for out number two, and then retired the following batter to get out of the inning without surrendering any more runs.
Ryan Kruskza was the starter for the Bulldogs, he has not had a great year so far, with a 10.61 ERA, allowing 29 hits in just 18.2 innings of work heading into the second game of the day.
Despite his earlier struggles, however, Ryan was in the zone Saturday, and struck out Jason Ganek on his way to a 1-2-3 third inning.
Butler put up another run in the top of the fourth, with an RBI double by Luke Duncan over that sailed just over the head of UIC’s center fielder Steve McGuiggan. The third out of the inning came on a play at home following a wild pitch by Grant.
The runner made a play for the plate, but thanks to a picture perfect bounce off the brick wall behind home plate, Flames catcher Kevin Coddington was able to easily field the ball and soft toss it to Kohldstaedt for the out at the plate.
In the top of the fourth UIC shortstop Rafael Garcia with his speed after Butler shortstop Joe Pauley bobbled the ball and made a late throw to first. After advancing to second on a sacrifice, Garcia put those Speedy Gonzalez skills on display again when he stole third.
Catcher Brian Bajer’s throw was in time, but Kyle Schultz could not handle the ball. Brett Schafer hit a sac fly to bring Garcia home, spoiling Kruskza’s shutout.
The play of the game came in the bottom of the next inning. UIC had a runner on first and McGuiggan drilled a ball seemingly outside the range of the Bulldog SS Pauley. Pauley felt otherwise, however, diving to catch the ball in mid-air, then collecting himself and tossing the ball to first for the double play.
Watching the game I had been struck by the girth of Butler third baseman Kyle Schultz. One of the coolest aspects of baseball, like golf and curling, is that it is one of the only sports where fat guys can be successful. Traditionally, though, those big boned fellows are first baseman [Cecil Fielder] or pitchers [David Wells], not manning the hot corner.
In the top of the sixth, though, Schulz showed the nimble athletecism that has allowed him to succeed despite his chubbiness in major college baseball. Ripping a ball off Kohlstaedt, I was shocked as I watched him round first. I thought he was just going to slow down and settle for the single, but my jaw dropped as he kept on chugging and made it to second without even needing a slide.
His teammates jeered in appreciation, yelling “looking good” and “atta boy wheels” in between laughter from the dug out.
Aside from his Flash like speed, Shultz can also hit a little, his .353 batting average is best on the squad.
Despite allowing another bulldog to get on base, Kohlstaedt got out of the inning without any damage, striking out Kevin Rotherham for his impressive seventh K of the day.
Following a scoreless bottom of the sixth, Ada Worthington came on to relieve Grant. Ada’s been one of UIC’s best pitchers this season, with a 1.93 ERA and 15 strikouts in just 14 innings pitched.
He showed the talent that earned those numbers, shutting down the first three batters he faced.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tyler Symczak came on in place of Kruszka, and quickly spoild all of Ryan’s good work, allowing two runs, spoiling Ryan’s win.
In the top of the eighth, Worthington only needed six pitches to mow down three bulldogs.
UIC was relentless against Tyler, quickly putting up three more runs to take a 6-3 lead. After that, he still allowed the bases to be loaded, and only then did Butler start warming someone up in the pen. It was cruel of the Butler manager to leave Tyler out there for so long. He managed to get out of the inning without any more damage.
Given the way Ada had been pitching, it seemed to be a done deal that UIC would get the victory … except, he crumbled, letting two runners score and leaving Don Phillis in a terrible situation when he came in to relieve him. Phillis escaped only letting one more Bulldog score, but the game was tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Evan DePotter came on for Butler in the ninth, and the game was nearly over on his first batter, as Brett Schaeffer destroyed a ball, taking it on a first class vacation deep into right field. It was inches away from being a home run, and the Butler RF dropped it, allowing Schaeffer to get to second.
It looked like nerves were getting to Evan later in the inning, facing UIC designated hitter Tony Altavilla. He made a horrendous pitch sailing far over the head of his catcher. The only defense for such a throw is that it could have been strategy, trying to goad UIC’s runner at third into stealing home.
Nevertheless, Evan gathered himself and struck out Altavilla looking, after striking out Andy Leonard next, he stared Andy down as he walked back to the dugout.
The air was thick with anticipation as the game went into bonus innings at Les Miller Field. Every pitch carried the weight of a bullet in a loaded gun, as any connection with an Aluminum bat could put the other team out of its misery.
It turned into a pitchers duel over the next three innings. In the tenth, eleventh and twelfth no runs were scored on Evan, his twelfth inning replacement Jamie Feldheiser or UIC’s Don Phillis. Don has not had a great year, with a 5.23 ERA, but was ruthless Saturday night as he continued embarrassing Bulldogs past the top of the thirteenth.
UIC manager Mike Dee was proud of his pitcher’s effort postgame, saying Don was “attacking hitters, did a great job of throwing strikes.” Indeed, he allowed only two hits over 4.1 innings of work.
That said, if you asked the Butler fan base, his performance may have been enhanced. Not by Barry Bonds’ magic juice, but by the men in blue. The home plate umpire’s calling of strikes had been called into question by both sides all night.
Heading into the bottom of the thirteenth, Dee gathered his team and told them “I don’t care if we win or lose … just go about this being aggressive.” UIC’s hitters had been taking a lot of balls as the game had gone into extra innings. Though the manager denied fatigue had any impact, I feel it had to have something to do with it; the starters played twenty-two innings Saturday.
Jamie Feldheiser has been far from spectacular this season, with a 6.35 ERA. Saturday, though, after shutting down the Flames in the twelfth he really seemed to be hitting a groove in the bottom of the thirteenth. He stuck out Altavilla to start the inning, hitting the catchers mitt with a fresh pop.
Sadly for Jason, it was not meant to be. The next two hitters got on base, and after a vicous hit by Jason Ganek, the next thing I saw was a sea of red jumping up and down, as the game was finally over.
So, it must have been the inspiring words of Dee that won the game, eh?
He quickly downplayed any such notions in a post game interview saying,
“I don’t know if I made any difference.”
FINAL: UIC 7 – BUTLER 6
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