Butler Wraps Perfect League Play With 13-3 Win

GREENVILLE — The baseball gods don’t often smile on perfection.

Too many hops. Too many arms. Too many ways for a game — or a season — to slip away.

But on a warm Thursday night at Sater Heights Park, Butler did what so few ever do. They finished the league stretch — clean, complete, and without a blemish.

The Aviators pounded out 17 hits and breezed past Greenville, 13–3, in a six-inning win that clinched a perfect 18–0 MVL season.

Despite bringing home the league crown in 23 of the last 30 seasons — it’s only the fourth time in program history Butler has run the table in league play. And coming off a 20–0 start — the best in program history — this one adds another exclamation mark to what has been a historic season.

Speaking of exclamation points— Hunter Richardson put his name on the game.

The senior launched two home runs — a two-run shot in the third and a solo blast in the sixth — and finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. He set the tone, then set the pace.

But it wasn’t a one-man show.

Mason Reckner got things started with a sacrifice fly in the first, but Greenville answered with a solo homer of its own.

From there, though, it was all Butler.

Tate Richardson doubled in a run in the second to give the Aviators a 2–1 lead, and the floodgates opened in the third.

Six runs poured in on five hits — a two-run blast from Hunter Richardson, an RBI single from Aiden White, and a sacrifice fly from Davis Ketterer. Max Rubins drew a bases-loaded walk, and by the time the inning was over, Butler led 8–1.

And in the sixth, Richardson struck again — a solo shot that capped the scoring and sealed a night that showcased everything Butler baseball has become this season: explosive, efficient, unrelenting.

Ketterer (5–0) got the win, working 4.2 innings while allowing four hits and three earned runs. He walked four and struck out one before giving way to Will Kitchen, who retired all three batters he faced — striking out two — to close things down.

Jackson Schilling added three hits and an RBI, while Koby Dues, Paxton Dwenger, and Ketterer each had two hits. Aiden White drove in a pair and scored twice from the bottom half of the lineup, and the Aviators turned two double plays defensively without a single error.

Now 23–1, 18–0 and still gaining steam, Butler wraps up the regular season Saturday at home against Division I power Archbishop Moeller — a fitting launch pad for a team that’s already made history, but doesn’t look ready to stop anytime soon.