Aviators Go Perfect At The Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, SC — The inning kept getting longer.

That was the first thing you noticed.

Not the score — not yet — just how long Batavia had to stay out there while Butler kept sending another hitter up, and another, and another, until there wasn’t much left to do but wait for it to end.

By the time it finally did, eight runs had scored, and a semi-close game had turned into a 15–3 Butler (4-0) win Thursday evening at The Ripken Experience.

It didn’t start there.

The shape of it showed up in the second inning — not flashy, not chaotic — just a stretch of at-bats that took out the Bulldogs early footing.

Declan Scheffler found a hole and brought two in. Gavin Leonard followed. Aidan White added another. Then Jack Egbert drove a ball into the gap that cleared the bases and made it seven runs before Batavia could get settled.

There wasn’t a moment where it flipped.

It just kept leaning one way.

Batavia answered with a solo home run in the fifth — a clean swing — but it didn’t carry anything with it. The game stayed where Butler had it.

And when the sixth started, it picked right back up.

Leonard doubled. Koby Dues followed with another into the gap, bringing in two. White kept it alive. Paxton Dwenger added on. Davis Ketterer lined one through for two more. Tate Richardson lifted a ball deep enough to bring home another.

Eight runs in the inning.

Fifteen on the board.

And no real pause in between.

Butler finished with 13 hits, spread across the lineup — Dues, Leonard, Egbert, and White each with two. Four different players drove in a pair, and there wasn’t a stretch of the order that let the inning slow down.

Sophomore righty Carson Heis handled the front end for the Aviators.

He worked 4⅔ innings, allowed just three hits, struck out six, and kept Batavia from putting anything together.

“Carson, did a nice job on the mound today throwing strikes, the defense played very well behind him and we smoked the ball around pretty good,” head coach Trent Dues said.

Jackson Schilling finished it off in relief for the Aviators.

Behind them, Butler didn’t give anything away — no errors, no extra chances.

Afterward, Dues reflected on the week.

“A great start to the season down here in Myrtle Beach,” he said. “We hit the ball very well. Played some good defense and got some good pitching.”

Then the part that sticks.

“Looking forward to continuing to go to battle with these guys. We have a bunch of hard-working guys that are very un-selfish.”

Hard working indeed.

Four games in three days.

And after outscoring opponents 59–20, these Aviators don’t look like a team ready to head home.

They look like one just getting started.