May 17, 2008

Game 1 Stats

Game 2 Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Cleveland State lost two games at Butler to conclude the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Bulldog Field. The Vikings lost the opener, 5-1, and fell in the nightcap, 8-5.

CSU finishes the regular season in fourth place in the Horizon League with a 21-29 overall record and a 10-13 league mark. The Bulldogs improved to 12-33 overall (7-13 HL).

The Vikings finished the regular season in fourth place in the Horizon League and will open the 2008 Horizon League Championship on Wednesday (May 21) with an 11:00 a.m. contest against Milwaukee. The league championship will take place in Youngstown, Ohio.

"We didn't play our best today, but hopefully we'll be able to get some momentum going as we head into the league tournament," head coach Kevin Kocks said. "We are having a hard time at the plate and have not been ourselves since our league series against UIC got rained out. We have to find a way to improve as we begin postseason play."

In today's opener, the Vikings got on the board in the second inning as Brad Buell was hit by a pitch and earned an RBI. However, that was the only run CSU could muster as the Bulldogs scored two in the third and three more in the eighth to pick up the win.

CSU was limited to just three hits in game one as Ryan Kruszka went eight innings, giving up just one run on three hits with five strikeouts to improve to 2-3 this season.

Brian Long lasted 7.1 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits in falling to 3-5 this season.

In the nightcap, CSU held a 5-2 lead heading into the eighth inning, but Butler tacked on six runs in the eighth and went on to earn the sweep.

CSU scored two runs in the first on RBI's from Kyle Bischof and John Brown, adding a single run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to extend the lead to 5-2.

However, Butler totaled five hits in the eighth to score six runs and earned the come-from-behind victory.

Dylan Henry fell to 0-4 this season, giving up six runs on nine hits. Bischof finished with four of CSU's 10 hits as he was the only Viking to record more than one hit in game two.

The Vikings will return to action on Wednesday in the Horizon League Championship against Milwaukee. First pitch is slated for 11:00 a.m. at Youngstown, Ohio.