Aviators Win Opener With 19-8 Run-Rule

MYRTLE BEACH, SC – It didn’t take Butler long Monday evening.

The Aviators (1-0) opened the 2026 season with a 19–8 run-rule win over Naperville Central (IL), and by the time the first inning ended, there wasn’t much left to figure out. It also marked the 650th career win for Butler coach Trent Dues.

And fittingly, it came the way his teams have won a lot of them—by putting pressure on from the start.

They scored 12 runs in that first.

The lineup turned over.

And by the end of it, the Redhawks had already gone to a third arm.

Junior Jackson Schilling got it started with a two-run triple, and Butler kept stacking at-bats from there. Fellow junior Jack Egbert followed in the middle of it and didn’t waste an at-bat—four hits, five RBIs, and two of those hits coming in that opening inning alone.

Schilling finished 3-for-3 with six RBIs, and between the two of them the middle of the order controlled most of the game.

Butler added on in the second, and from there it became more about staying consistent than adding on.

Naperville Central made a push in the third, scoring five runs to cut into the lead, but Butler answered it the way you want to see early in the year.

They just went back to playing.

And scoring.

Junior Tate Richardson worked the first three innings, striking out three and walking three.

Seniors Logan Smith and Carson Perry followed out of the bullpen and kept the game from tightening any further.

And behind it, Butler stayed clean.

No errors. Four stolen bases. Fourteen walks.

And for an opener, that tells you more than the score does.

It’s one game, and there’s more ahead this week.

But the Aviators didn’t look like a team easing into anything Monday.

This looked like a business trip.

And they looked ready to work.