BUTLER TWP— Walk right this way, please.

Franklin's pitchers were courteous Saturday afternoon at Highfield Park and Butler took full advantage, accepting 14 walks en route to a 15-8 high school baseball victory.

Of those 14 walks, nine wound up scoring. Three others forced home a run.

"Clearly, that was the ballgame,"Franklin coach Curt Ditzenburger said. "We handed them the game. Those walks killed us."

The game marked Franklin's season opener, but Ditzenburger offered no excuses.

"We just played a full scrimmage Thursday and walked three" he said. "I didn't see this coming. I figured maybe we wouldn't be as sharp in the field or on our game at the plate.

"But nothing like this."

Butler's first three batters — Dustin Uhlman, James Masciarelli and Andy Onufrak — received seven of the walks. Regular leadoff hitter Darren Blakley missed the game with an injury.

Uhlman replaced him at the top of the lineup and reached base on all five of his plate appearances, collecting a double, single and three walks.

"We're showing good patience at the plate and we're forcing the (opposing) pitchers to work a little bit,"Butler coach Dave Florie said.

Franklin starter Josh Kahle threw 42 pitches in the second inning, retiring only one batter before being lifted. The Golden Tornado took a 5-0 lead in that inning as Tim Geibel delivered a two-run single, Ryan Geibel a sacrifice fly and two runs were forced home on walks.

The Knights fought back however, producing three consecutive two-out RBIhits in the third inning. A three-run fourth gave Franklin the lead and forced starting pitcher Ryan Geibel from the game.

Butler trailed 7-5 entering the bottom of the fifth before scoring seven times. Brian Warheit hit a run-scoring triple and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.

More wildness struck Franklin after that as five Tornado hitters walked and Masciarelli delivered a two-run single before Franklin could get out of the inning.

"Our kids have shown a lot of resiliency in these early games,"Florie said. "Even in our loss at Ambridge (Friday), we came back from five runs down to tie the game.

"They don't seem to get flustered when things don't go their way."

Luke Dugger got the win in relief for Butler, striking out six over the final 3.1 innings. He had three RBIat the plate as well, including a two-run single in the sixth to seal the deal.

Franklin is a Class AAAschool out of District 10 that is coming off a 7-12 season, but with the bulk of its team back.

"We expect to challenge for the district title,"Ditzenburger said. "But our first and third pitchers today (Kahle and Kyle Nulph) are seniors and we have to get them straightened out.

"Hopefully, we got all of the wildness out of our system."

Despite the win, Butler had two runners thrown out on the bases and committed three errors, giving the Tornado eight errors in their past three games.

Butler begins section play today at Shaler. Next home game is Wednesday vs. Pine-Richland.

"We've got some things to work on, that's for sure,"Florie said.

Franklin 003 310 1—8 11 1Butler 050 073 x—15 11 3WP: Luke Dugger (3Z\c IP) 6 strikeouts, 1 walk.

LP: Cameron Hovis (3 IP) 2 strikeouts, 3 walks

Franklin (0-1): Jon Niles 3-1B 2-RRBI, Shawn Hines 2-1B 2-RBI, Kyle Nulph 3B 2B 3-RBI, Bryan Smith 2B RBI, Nick Perrine 2-1B2-R, Jamison Daniels 1B

Butler (3-1): Dustin Uhlman 2B 1B3-R, James Masciarelli 1B3-RBI, Andy Onufrak 2-1BRBI, Ryan Geibel RBI, Luke Dugger 1B3-RBI, Jordan Roycroft 1BRBI2-R, Bill Coleman RBI, Brian Warheit 3BRBI, Tim Geibel 1B 2-RBI 2-R, Brad Marra 1B, John Crummy 2B

Today: Butler @Shaler