Aviators Sweep Stebbins With 9-2 Win

RIVERSIDE — You could feel it coming.

Not the wind. Not the rain.

Butler’s seventh inning.

Tense for five innings, up 3-2, with just two hits to show for it — the Aviators hadn’t broken through. Not yet.

But this team doesn’t need a crooked inning to remind people who they are.

They just need a crack in the dam — and that’s exactly what Stebbins gave them, as a slow trickle turned into a torrent.

The Aviators poured in five runs in the top of the seventh — sparked by a fielder’s choice, ignited by a rocket double from Aiden White, and punctuated with a daring steal of home — and turned a grinder into another signature win: 9–2, their 22nd of the year and a clean sweep of the series.

Call it a late punch. Call it another Butler blink-and-you-missed-it avalanche.

But it was everything this team has been all season — resilient, opportunistic, and never out of a game they haven’t already won.

Tate Richardson (4-0) got the start and delivered five innings of high-wire toughness. He allowed just one hit and struck out six, walking two and never letting Stebbins get comfortable.

Hunter Richardson followed with a lights-out finish — two innings, no hits, no walks, and five strikeouts — freezing any hope the Indians had of a comeback.

The offense? Timed perfectly.

Davis Ketterer tied things in the fourth with a double scorched to right field. In the fifth, an error brought home the go-ahead run, and Butler nudged ahead 3–1.

But the story was the seventh.

Max Rubins’ RBI fielder’s choice gave Butler a little room. Aiden White’s bases-clearing double blew the doors open. Then, with chaos in full swing, the Aviators squeezed one more in — with White swiping home on a heads-up sprint that summed up Butler’s night: aggressive, smart, and never satisfied.

White finished with three RBIs, two steals, and one of the most clutch hits of the year. Ketterer reached base three times. Declan Scheffler chipped in a hit and a run scored. And despite just four hits, Butler drew seven walks, stole four bases, and made each swing — and step — count.

They don’t always overwhelm. They don’t always out-hit. But the Aviators almost always out-execute.

And on Tuesday, they reminded everyone why they’re still the team to chase in the area.