EAST BUTLER— Just call Ryan Geibel the insurance man.

The East Butler catcher drove home insurance runs twice Tuesday night and picked up the save on the mound as his team defeated Prospect, 9-6, at Speed-O Field. The team held on to first place in the Butler County American Legion Baseball League with the victory.

"I just tried to provide some leadership out there,"Geibel said. "This was a pretty big game tonight."

Geibel delivered a run-scoring double in the first inning, as East Butler jumped out to a 3-0 lead. He drilled a two-run homer in the fourth to extend a 5-4 lead to 7-4. His two-out RBIdouble in the sixth extended East Butler's lead to 9-6.

Nick Rossmiller followed Geibel's homer with a home run of his own to left. He got the win on the mound, working the first six innings, striking out nine and throwing 108 pitches.

After Prospect scored four runs in the second inning, Rossmiller retired 10 batters in a row, striking out five of them.

"Nick hadn't pitched in a week and it took him a while to find his game,"East Butler manager Carl Hays said. "By the third inning, he was into the game. He just ran out of gas late."

Geibel pitched the seventh inning for his third save in East Butler's six wins. Travis McDougal opened the Prospect seventh by lining a single off Geibel's foot.

Jesse Badgett's soft liner to second was turned into a double play, however. Following a Mark White double, Nick Cress fouled out to first to end the game.

Prospect's loss was its third in a row, as Brandon Ray's squad continues to play without some starters.

Ryan Ferguson is out for the rest of the month with a broken hand and two other starters are on vacation.

"It's tough to win without all of your regular players,"Ray said. "We'll be without three starters for at least the next two games."

The first five hitters in East Butler's batting order combined for 10 hits in 17 at-bats, eight runs scored and eight RBI.

Bill Coleman, Ryan Armahizer, Geibel and Rossmiller scored two runs each. Geibel had four RBI.

"It's nice to get this win, but there's a lot of baseball still to be played,"Hays said. "This was two good teams going at it tonight."

Baserunning mistakes plagued Prospect late in the game. White walked with two outs in the fifth and Cress singled, but White was struck by the batted ball to end the inning.

A rundown allowed Prospect to score a run in the sixth, but cost the team an out. Justin Whallin got picked off first to end the inning.

"You can't make the last out trying to steal a base or getting picked off,"Ray said. "Outs on the bases and fielding errors cost a team runs."

Pitcher Travis McDougal went the distance for Prospect, striking out seven and throwing 112 pitches.

Prospect 040 002 0—6 9 1East Butler 301 401 x—9 12 2W: Nick Rossmiller 6 IP (8 K, 4 BB).

L: Travis McDougal 6 IP (7 K, 1 BB).

Prospect (5-3): Travis McDougal 2B 1B2-RBI, Mark White 2B, Nick Cress 1B, Josh Weitzel 1B, Matt Corner 2B 1B 2-R, Brandon Bonzo RBI, Derrick Orloski 2B 1BRBI

East Butler (6-1): Bill Coleman 2-1BRBI2-R, Ryan Armahizer 2-1B 2-R, Ryan Geibel HR 2-2B 4-RBI3-R, Nick Rossmiller HR 1B 2-RBI 2-R, Derek Hays 1BRBI, Greg Hays 1BRBI, Evan Oswald 3B

Thursday: Center Township at Prospect, Saxonburg at East Butler