The baseball team notched its first victory of the season on Sunday with a 3-2 win over host Tennessee Tech.

The road trip didn’t begin all that great, however, as Butler (1-11) dropped the first two games of the series on Friday and Saturday.

In the first contest, it was the Golden Eagles who were victorious 3-2. Junior left-hander Matt Sokolowski started for the Bulldogs, finishing with seven strikeouts and no walks in seven innings. But he would not receive enough run support for the win.

Senior Nate Hart doubled in sophomore Jason Jamerson for the team’s first run in the third. TTU bounced right back in their half of the inning, pushing the advantage to 3-1. Senior Ryan Neat would score in the fourth, but that would be all for Butler.

The Golden Eagles wasted no time the following day, scoring three runs in the first inning and never looked back. Their offense would produce 17 hits on the day for a 7-2 victory.

The Bulldogs managed just five hits including senior Joe Pauley’s first home run of the season in the sixth, which ended the shut-out. He also scored the team’s other run in the ninth, reaching on a walk and then scoring after two wild pitches.

The last game of the series finally gave Butler something to cheer about, as the team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take home a 3-2 victory.

The rally began with two outs in the seventh, after sophomore Kyle Schultz and freshman Steve Darragh both were hit by pitches and freshman Brian Bajer drew a walk to load the bases. Junior Colin Ziegel beat out a grounder to the pitcher to score pinch-runner Hart. Freshman Grant Fillipitch followed with a double to score two more and give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead and essentially the game.

Freshman David Dennemann (1-1) secured the win, giving up just one hit and striking out one in the seventh. Sophomore Tyler Szymczak held TTU scoreless over the next two innings to pick up the save.

The Bulldogs return to action on March 19 when they host IPFW at 3 p.m.