Tate Richardson earned the win in relief for Butler, holding them scoreless after allowing a home run to the second batter he faced. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Julie Wright-Daniel)
Both teams couldn’t stay unbeaten in the battle for Miami Valley League supremacy. This time Butler made the biggest plays. Tuesday night they meet again in Dayton.
Troy, OH – Catchers affect baseball games more than most folks sitting in bleachers or camp chairs bother to notice. Almost anonymously, Butler junior Jackson Schilling kept his team calm and confident Monday handling three pitchers against Troy’s potent lineup.
But out from behind the plate Schilling was unmasked for all to see.
Twice in the first four innings he threw out base stealers to keep his team from falling more than three runs behind. Then, after an 0-for-2 start, he delivered the game-changing line drive the Aviators needed.
Minster Bank proudly sponsors the best in area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Schilling’s three-run double in the fifth inning put Butler ahead for the first time and sent the Aviators to a 9-5 victory in a battle of the Miami Valley League’s unbeaten best.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com. Follow on X @jw_gilbert
Tuesday night at Day Air Ballpark in Dayton, the home of the Dayton Dragons, Butler (9-0, 4-0) and Troy (8-1, 5-1) meet again. When this one ended the Aviators hooted and hollered like a tournament win.
“We’re both powerhouses of the MVL, and every year it’s the debate whether it’s us or them,” said Schilling, who along with classmate Koby Dues has committed to play for Ohio State. “The second game, you really want to win it as well, but winning the first game is a really big relief because we know we got the advantage on those guys to win the MVL.”
Troy, motivated to defeat Butler for the first time since 2023, jumped to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first two innings. Brody Hoke hit a two-single to score Logan Akers who had doubled. In the second, Aidan Gorman hit a two-single to score Cole Oswalt, who led off the inning with a single.
Dave Arbogast is a proud sponsor of area high school sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Then it was time for Schilling’s first big throw. Starter Davis Ketterer threw a pitch in the dirt. Schilling blocked the pitch, and the ball bounced several feet in front of the plate. Troy’s Henry Wolke dashed for third, but Schilling was on the ball quickly, threw on target and third baseman Paxton Dwenger applied the tag to end the inning.
“Usually when I block a ball, I kind of peek at the runner first, and then if I see he’s kind of stationary, I kind of take my time, go and get it,” Schilling said. “But I saw he started going, so I really picked it up, made a nice throw, and Paxton made a really good tag at third. It was great play all around.”
Ohio State commit catcher Jackson Schilling’s tag is a tad late as Troy’s Logan Akers scores on a double by Colton Akins in the third inning.
And Butler’s bats felt the spark. The Aviators rallied to tie the score in the third on Declan Scheffler’s sacrifice fly and Dues’ RBI single.
But Troy responded with three runs in the third for a 5-2 lead. Akers and Colton Akins doubled to start the inning for the first run. Hoke got Akins home on a ground out. Then Andrew Westfall homered to left.
“The best thing about that early on was they scored two in the third to tie it up and we came back and scored three,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “That was really good about us, and that’s the kind of mentality we have. I feel like that’s who we are.”
The Trojans tried to keep their offense humming in the fourth. Brayden Frantz hit a leadoff double, and Gorman singled him to third with one out. Gorman, the Trojans’ speedy leadoff hitter, tried to steal second. Schilling threw him out. Then Tate Richardson struck out Akers looking to end the inning.
After a strong throw from catcher Jackson Schilling, Butler shortstop Koby Dues tags out Aidan Gorman as he tries to steal second in the fourth inning.
“We threw Gorman out at second, that was big,” Trent Dues said. “I thought they were going to have a big inning there. Jackson’s a pretty effective tool back there.”
Sparked again by Schilling’s strong arm, Butler went to work in the fifth. Freshman Ezra Scheffler led off with his second double of the game.
“He’s stepped in as a freshman, and I’ll tell you what, he’s a ballplayer,” Trent Dues said.
The table was further set by walks to Declan Scheffler and Koby Dues. Welker turned to the third of five pitchers he would use, Tobey Seibert, and Schilling lined the next pitch to left for a double, three RBIs and a 6-5 lead.
Chances are, the best lawn on your block is an Ever-Green lawn. Call us at 937-335-6418!
“That definitely changed the mojo of the game,” Trent Dues said. “We hadn’t had the lead the whole time, and that really, really stuck a dagger in it.”
Schilling wanted to do something productive with the bases loaded, but he didn’t try too hard. He used his head.
“I saw he had a little short arm slot, so I knew I was going to be able to see it early and kind of let my hands do my own thing, try not to do too much,” he said. “Hands work pretty fast, so I didn’t want to get overly aggressive there and have a bad swing cost my team. So I just let my hands do my thing. Saw a first pitch fastball down the middle and jumped on it.”
Andrew Westfall taps helmets with teammate Cole Oswalt after homering for a 5-2 lead in the third inning.
Schilling also caught a break. Wolke, the left fielder, charged the hard-hit ball fast and probably would have stopped more than one run from scoring. But when the ball struck the ground, it took a bad hop over his head and cleared the bases.
“When you catch a barrel, the outfield does wonders for you,” Schilling said.
Dwenger added an RBI single for a 7-5 lead. In the seventh, Butler benefitted from more good bounces. A wild pitch off the plate flew high over the catcher Hoke’s head to the backstop. By the time he found the ball, Jack Egbert scored from second.
Then, one of those wonderful baseball plays rarely seen, accounted for the game’s final run. Ketterer put down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt and Dwenger scored easily.
Akins started on the mound for Troy and pitched into the fifth inning, leaving with the score 5-2. Welker then used Devin Schwartz, Seibert, Dawson James and Devin Buroker in relief. The quintet of pitchers allowed only five hits, but they walked 10.
Koverman,Staley, Dickerson proudly supports your favorite high school sports on Press Pros Magazine.
“We’ve played a lot of run-rule games so far, and we’ve not been in our bullpen any in clutch situations,” Welker said with the exception of a 2-1 game on their Georgia trip. “We’re trying to figure out who we are and who’s our guys. So that was a good opportunity for us to see some of that stuff. We just walked too many.”
Ketterer started for Butler and allowed four runs in two innings. Richardson worked the next 3 2/3 innings and allowed only the Westfall homer, three other hits and the only walk the Trojans received. After the home run, Richardson got the next two to end the inning. He left the mound in the sixth with two out and one on.
Colton Akins pitched four innings for Troy and left the game with a 5-2 lead.
“He’s a baller, and he can throw a lot of strikes,” Schilling said. “I knew that the home run wasn’t going to cost us anything because Coach Dues put it best when he said the wind’s blowing straight out, it’s going to be a lot of offense. So it calmed us down, and he just went out there and dialed in.”
With a two-run lead in the sixth, Trent Dues turned to his closer Koby Dues. He allowed a single to Gorman, his third of the game, to put runners at first and third. But Dues retired the next four batters to earn the save in his first appearance.
“Tate pitched through it,” Trent Dues said. “We just felt like, at the end, Kobe’s our closer.”
Koby Dues brought his big fastball with him from shortstop, and other than Gorman, didn’t allow hard contact.
“I don’t think there’s a better pitcher than him in Ohio,” Schilling said. “As soon as Koby went in I knew the game was over. I knew there was no way they were going to be able to put runs up on him.”
Logan Services, with locations in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, proudly sponsors your favorite area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Troy will send junior ace Jake Reinhardt to the mound at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Dayton. Dues doesn’t know for sure who he will start. Ketterer and Richardson are his primary starters and both pitched Monday. He’s working on understanding his pitching staff just like Welker because of so many run-rule wins.
“We have not made up our mind – figured we better win one,” Dues said. “Those guys are a good team. Probably going to be another war. And those are fun games. Would much rather have a game like that, honestly, than something that’s over with early. It’s going to make you better.”
Wilson Health/Orthopedics proudly sponsors the best in area sports and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Press Pros.