BUTLER TWP - Seneca Valley baseball team had been hitting the ball. Its problem had been falling behind early.

Until Wednesday.

The Raiders scored seven times in the top of the first inning and added 10 runs in the second to cruise to a 17-2 victory over Butler at Highfield Park.

"Our losses resulted from early mistakes and falling behind by four or five runs right away," Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega said. "We'd come back strong in later innings, but couldn't make up that deficit."

There were no late innings Wednesday. The Raiders' quick start resulted in the game being halted after three innings because of the 15-run mercy rule.

Seneca Valley amassed 14 hits and took advantage of eight Butler errors to send 28 batters to the plate in the first two innings.

Leadoff hitter Zach Duggan had four at-bats in the first two innings. The Raiders sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning, 16 in the second inning.

"I've never had a team get off to a start like this," Semega said. "They made some mistakes to help us along, but we were hitting the ball hard.

"I had opposing teams score seven runs on me in the first inning before, but it never got quite like this."

Kevan Smith's two-run homer in the second inning was the Raiders' only extra-base hit of the day.

"They dominated with their hitting. We didn't dominate with our pitching," Butler coach Ron Zawrotuk said. "We tell our pitchers to throw strikes and that's what they're doing.

"We're just not overpowering enough on the mound to stop guys from hitting the ball."

Butler pitchers walked three batters and hit three others Wednesday. The Golden Tornado have committed 18 errors in their past two games.

"We're not going to beat anybody if we commit eight to 10 errors a game," Zawrotuk said.

Freshman Corey Mazzoni allowed two hits and struck out five in getting the win for Seneca Valley. Jim McCaslin, the first of three Butler pitchers, took the loss.

The Raiders improved to 2-4 in section play.

"There's no reason why we can't get back in the playoff race," Semega said. "Since the Fox Chapel game (Monday), we're treating every section game like a single-elimination playoff game. That's how we have to look at it."

Wednesday's loss leaves Butler alone at the bottom of the Section 1-AAAA standings.

"People think I'm hard on the kids, that I abuse the kids," Zawrotuk said in response to criticism at Monday's school board meeting. "I don't abuse kids. I don't use profanity around the field and I tell them not to use it.

"These kids hear about it (the team's losses) when they leave here. I'm not going to add to that. I respect them and hopefully, they respect me."

Sen. Valley 7(10)0 xxx x -17 15 1

Butler 020xxx x- 2 2 8

WP:

Corey Mazzoni (3 IP) 5 strikeouts, 1 walk.

LP:

Jim McCaslin (1 IP) 1 strikeout, 1 walk

Seneca Valley (5-6, 2-4):

Zach Duggan 1B RBI 2-R, Nick Hull 3-1B RBI 2-R, Todd Purvis 1B, Kevan Smith 1B HR 3-RBI 2-R, Jason Davis 2-1B RBI 3-R, John Sklarsky 2-1B 3-R, Derek Andrekovich 1B RBI 2-R, Ryan Roble 1B RBI, Shane Patsilevis 1B, Jim Burry 1B RBI

Butler (1-9, 1-5):

T.J. Bayer 1B, Anthony Pinto 1B RBI

Today:

Seneca Valley @ Pine-Richland

Friday:

Plum @ Butler