Butler coach Trent Dues met with his team before every at bat to motivate them for the next inning. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Jeff Gilbert)
The end of the Aviators’ season came to a halt in the Division III regionals, stopped by Rams pitcher Caleb Driessen and his outfield defense.
Oxford, OH – No one wants to line up for the runner-up medals and trophy. Butler has done it too many times. The Aviators thought Thursday would be different.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
But it wasn’t. Division III, as it turns out, can be just as difficult as Division I, especially when the opponent is perennial power Hamilton Badin. The Aviators fell victim to a fast Badin start and lost 10-1 in the Division III regional final at Miami University’s Hayden Park.
“They’re a very good team without a doubt,” Butler coach Trent Dues said. “It doesn’t take anything away from our season.”
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The loss marked the end of Marshall-bound Hunter Richardson’s elite four-year career as the Aviators’ best pitcher and leadoff hitter. He couldn’t bear to keep his medal hanging around his neck as his team stood and watched Badin receive its championship hardware. Or reflect on the past four years.
“I’ll probably do that later,” he said with all his gear slung over his shoulder and under his arm as he prepared to leave a high school dugout for the final time. “I’m not really thinking about anything, but the game right now.”
Butler (28-4) has played in Division I for years and been stopped in regionals many times. With the move from four divisions to seven divisions this year, Butler dropped to Division III. Badin is going to state for the fourth time since 2021.
Butler’s Mason Reckner leaves the field in disbelief after Badin center fielder Chandler Taylor ran down his drive on the warning track.
“It was definitely hard taking the loss,” said Richardson, who was hitless in three at-bats. “We had high expectations going into the game. Both teams showed up, but they just had a little more energy going and things going their way.”
The game belonged to Badin from the beginning. Butler pitched Richardson seven innings in Tuesday’s semifinal win over Hamilton Ross. Dues gave the ball to senior Mason Reckner, who had pitched only 16 innings while recovering from an arm injury, but he didn’t record an out.
“He hasn’t thrown on this short of rest because we were really spreading him out,” Dues said. “He probably didn’t have this good stuff. We rolled the dice and sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you. You can sit here and hindsight it all you want. I felt like we could neutralize their bats a little better than what we did. I was wrong.”
Badin (25-6) started with two walks followed by Kade Bowling’s RBI single. Next, Chase Luebbe tripled in two runs. Dues changed pitchers and went to sophomore Koby Dues. He allowed Cooper Ollis’ sacrifice fly, and the Rams led 4-0.
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“We weren’t fooling them at the outset at all on the mound,” Dues said. “They deserved it. They played better than us today.”
The Rams added two runs in the second, three in the third and one in the sixth as Dues used five pitchers.
“When it was 4-0, I thought we were still in the game, and then it just kind of started dragging on,” Richardson said. “But we fought till the end.”
Butler junior Logan Smith did his best to keep his team in the ballgame with one-hit ball over 2 1/3 innings.
The Aviators stopped the game from ending in the sixth on the 10-run rule with an out at the plate. With the infield in, shortstop Max Rubins threw out a runner trying to score from third with catcher Paxton Dwenger applying the tag.
Badin kept Butler’s offense down with the pitching of junior ace Caleb Driessen and strong defense, especially by center fielder Chandler Taylor.
Driessen went the distance and permitted only four hits, one walk and a run in the second. Butler scored on Russell Stratman’s sacrifice fly. Otherwise, everything the Aviators hit hard landed in gloves.
Four times Butler hitters gave balls rides that would have cleared the fence in most high school ballparks. But at Miami the wall is, from left to right, 332, 376, 400, 384 and 343 feet. Jackson Schilling hit a long double over the left fielder’s head. Richardson flew out deep to left in the fifth.
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But it was ground covered by junior center fielder Chandler Taylor that hurt most. He robbed Schilling in the third and Reckner in the fourth.
“It was hard to read off the bat for a little bit because of the sun,” Taylor said. “I just like playing behind Caleb, but I know this whole team, our whole defense will do anything for him to go get an out.”
Dues has seen enough baseball in his Hall of Fame career to know when to give credit when credit is due.
“Driessen’s a good pitcher, and we couldn’t get anything to fall on top of that,” he said. “It felt like they just kept making every play. They’re a good team. They deserve to go.”
And Butler will work and hope to be the team out of Division III next year that gets to ride the bus to Akron.
Butler catcher Paxton Dwenger tags out Badin’s Cooper Ollis in the sixth inning on a throw from shortstop Max Rubins to prevent the Rams from ending the game with the 10-run rule.
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