Cleveland State rallies to defeat Butler in first game of Baseball Championship

May 23, 2007

Box Score

Game 1: Cleveland State 6, Butler 1
Chicago, Ill. - Nate Radtke's three-run homer capped a six-run sixth inning as fourth-seeded Cleveland State defeated fifth seed Butler 6-1 in the opening game of the 2007 U.S. Army Horizon League Baseball Championship at Les Miller Field. The six-run outburst was more than enough support for left-hander Stephen Procner, who tossed a complete-game six-hitter for his fourth victory of the season.

Procner retired the first 12 batters he faced before Butler catcher Joe Dempsey homered to lead off the fifth inning. Dempsey's seventh round-tripper of the year staked Bulldog starter Jon Dages to a 1-0 lead entering the fateful sixth frame.

Bobby Cash opened that stanza with a lead-off walk and advanced to third base on Vasili Pahoulis' bloop single to center. Rich Ranells followed with an RBI single to even the score, but Dages nearly escaped the jam with only the one tally. Ryan Baechel put CSU on top with an infield single, and an error on BU's Jason Jamerson stretched the margin to 3-1 before Radtke closed the scoring with his second home run of the spring.

Procner (4-9) needed only 96 pitches in his route-going effort, striking out five while walking two. Ranells, Baechel and Radtke each posted two of Cleveland State's eight hits, while Dempsey was three-for-four to lead the Bulldog offense.

Dages dropped to 6-7 for Butler after allowing six runs (only two earned) in eight innings of work.

Butler (22-32 overall) moves into the comeback bracket, where BU will face the loser of Wednesday's second contest---a match-up between third seed UW-Milwaukee and sixth seed Youngstown State---at 11 a.m. (CT) Thursday morning. CSU (14-42), which has now won four consecutive games overall, will meet either top-seeded UIC or second seed Wright State, with the Vikings' opponent also determined by the outcome of the UWM-YSU showdown.