Butler Falls At Home, 8-3

April 18, 2006

Box Score

Amin Abusaleh slammed a two-out, two-run home run to trigger a five-run rally in the top of the ninth inning and lead visiting Wright State to an 8-3 victory over Butler in a Horizon League game at Bulldog Park on Tuesday, April 18. The come-from-behind win lifted Wright State to 18-15 on the season and 10-8 in league play, while the Bulldogs fell to 14-21 overall and 8-10 in league action.

Infielder Ross Oeder led of the ninth inning with a double, but he was erased on a nifty pick-off play from pitcher Pat Feeney to second baseman Jeff Brown to shortstop Joe Pauley. Feeney then coaxed Dan Biedenharn to fly out to right field. Catcher Aaron Garcia kept the inning alive with a line single to centerfield and Abusaleh followed by blasting Feeney's first pitch to the protective net high above the centerfield fence. It was the rightfielder's second home run of the season.

Feeney (0-1) left the game after walking Brian Shoup and freshman Joe Ochs came in and surrendered three consecutive singles to plate three more Wright State runs. Freshman Matt Sokolowski entered the game and recorded the final out on a fly ball to left field.

Joe Smith, the Raiders' ace relief pitcher who entered the game with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, faced five Butler hitters in the ninth and ended the game by striking out Joe Dempsey with two runners on base. Smith (2-0) had four strikeouts in his two innings of work.

Butler jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a leadoff double by Stephen Gill, a walk to Brown and back-to-back run-scoring singles by Alex Rinearson and Joel Matheny. The Bulldogs then stretched the lead to 3-0 on a run-scoring single by Gill in the third inning.

Wright State picked up two runs off of Butler starter Josh Vollmer in the fourth inning when Justin Wilson hit his third home run of the season with a runner on base. The Raiders then tied the game with a single run off of Vollmer in the sixth. Feeney came on to stop the Raiders in the sixth by striking out Oeder with two runners on base.

Gill and Pauley each had two hits to lead Butler's nine-hit attack. The Raiders finished with 17 hits.

Butler will step out of league play and travel to nearby Marian College for a single game on Thursday, April 20. That contest is slated for 6:30 p.m.