Bats stay hot for Northwestern baseball in 13-3 win over Butler
Northwestern cruised to a 13-3 win over the Butler University Bulldogs on Saturday, taking an early lead and never looking back at Itchy Jones Stadium on the campus of Southern Illinois University.
The Wildcats’ offense posted crooked numbers in four different innings, totaling 12 hits in the team’s sixth consecutive victory. With the ‘Cats holding a ten-run advantage, the game ended after seven complete innings.
Playing as the visitors in Saturday’s neutral-site game, Northwestern pounced on the Bulldogs in the first inning by plating two runs on two hits. Ethan O’Donnell was hit by a pitch from Butler starter Cory Bosecker to start the game, and Anthony Calarco and Jay Beshears followed with singles. O’Donnell scored on Beshears’ hit, giving the Wildcats a lead that it never relinquished. Vincent Bianchina bunted home another run in the first to make it 2-0 before Northwestern right-hander Michael Farinelli toed the rubber.
Farinelli navigated through traffic in his first two innings, as he allowed the lead-off batter to reach in both frames but kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard. His offense then gave him a comfortable cushion with a four-run outburst in the top of the third inning.
Bianchina’s run-scoring double pushed the lead to three runs, and after Andrew Pinkston was hit by a pitch, Luke Tanner doubled Northwestern’s lead with his first collegiate home run. Tanner’s three-run shot was the first homer surrendered by Bosecker this season and only the second against the southpaw in his career.
After Farinelli yielded solo home runs in the third and fourth innings, O’Donnell responded by launching his third home run of the weekend in the top of the sixth. The two-run homer against Butler reliever John MacCauley was O’Donnell’s fourth of the season, matching Anthony Calarco for the team lead.
Northwestern rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh inning, highlighted by extra-base hits from Pinkston and J.C. Santini. The Wildcats loaded the bases against MacCauley, and Pinkston cleared the bags on a three-run double down the left field line. Following a Tanner groundout and a Patrick Herrera walk, Santini brought two runs home on his first triple of the year.
Farinelli returned to the mound for the bottom of the seventh, retiring the side to close out his first complete game as a Wildcat. The graduate student struck out six and allowed just five hits and two earned runs over seven innings pitched.
Jay Beshears led the ‘Cats with three hits, and the sophomore now has nine hits in his last 14 at-bats. The Wildcats (8-10) improve to 7-0 this season when the offense scores eight or more runs. Northwestern’s six-game win streak is the longest since May of 2017 when the program finished the regular season with five straight victories and won the first two games of the 2017 Big Ten Baseball Tournament.
Bosecker took the loss for Butler, dropping his record to 0-3 in 2022. Travis Holt and Aaron Steinhart led the Bulldogs (9-12) with two hits and a home run each.
Northwestern will close out the weekend in Carbondale, Ill. on Sunday with rematches against SIU and Butler. First pitch against the host Salukis is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT, and the ‘Cats will take on Butler once more at 3 p.m. CT.