Tipp knocks off #1 ranked Butler in MVL baseball showdown

Coming into their Miami Valley League showdown last week at Butler High School, the Aviators were ranked the #1 Division Three team in Ohio in the latest state poll. Tipp was looking to not only build some momentum heading into the postseason, but knocking off the state’s top-ranked team would go a long way in helping that happen.

Things started rough for the Red Devils, as they gave up three unearned runs in the first inning, but they settled down and held Butler scoreless the rest of the way, as Tipp scored twice in the ninth inning for a 5-3 victory. 

“Getting that monkey off our back is huge, and we talked a lot before the game just about believing that we can do it,” Tipp coach Cam Dickens said. “I know that we have the talent in the program, and we just had to buy in and believe that we deserve to be there and compete with teams like that.”
“It wasn’t the cleanest start, but we battled back and chipped away and had a huge hit in the ninth to get it done.”

After Butler scored three times in the first, Tipp started back an inning later. Carson Jackson scored on an error in the second inning to make it 3-1.  Then in the third, Ethan Harney hit into a double play to bring home another run to cut the deficit to 3-2.

In the third, Eli Kettel reached on an error, allowing another run to score, and the game started over, tied at 3-3.

Butler had runners at second and third in the sixth, but Tipp pitched out of trouble, and there were no more scoring threats until they reached the ninth inning.

Kettle walked, Noah Fox singled, and with two outs, Tipp would strike. Harney doubled to left to bring home both runners and give Tipp a 5-3 lead. Butler went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth, and the Red Devils preserved the win.

“You could feel every inning we chipped away at their lead, our kids believed more and more,” Dickens said. “We competed on a higher level than we probably have in previous years.”

“Ethan had big plays for us all year, and he got a pitch up in the zone that he could handle, and once he hit it, I knew immediately it would produce some runs for us.”

The Friday night game at Wright State was rained out.