Tom Kahl was working on a no-hitter. He also was working on borrowed time.

The right-hander from Bay Shore, N.Y., struck out nine in six hitless innings Thursday night at Pullman Park as the Butler BlueSox won their Prospect League debut, 2-0, over the Northcoast Knights of Lorain, Ohio.

Kahl threw 94 pitches and wasn't sent out to start the seventh despite the no-hitter.

"I was hesitant to send him out to pitch the sixth," BlueSox manager Jason Wuerfel admitted. "But he did have the no-hitter going, so I gave him another inning.

"There's no way I'm letting a pitcher throw more than 100 pitches in his first game of the summer. No way."

Kahl, who was 6-2 with a 2.73 earned run average at Division II Dominican (N.Y.) College this spring, had no problem with being pulled.

"It's better for the team," Kahl said. "The last thing I want to do is put too much strain on my arm. We have other good pitchers on this team."

Trent DeLazzer of the University of Connecticut pitched a perfect seventh inning. With one out in the eighth, Rob Moir reached on an infield error for the Knights before Kevin Roundtre singled sharply to right to end the BlueSox's no-hit bid.

Moir was cut down at third on an attempted double steal and Evan Melendez grounded out to second to end Northcoast's lone threat of the night.

"I was pleased with the night overall," Wuerfel said. "The crowd was into it and we played well."

The BlueSox snapped a scoreless tie in the third inning when No. 9 hitter Brian Billigen of Cornell University singled to left and Zachary Noonan of Murray State walked.

Brian Youchak of Johns Hopkins University, a .440 hitter and all-conference player this spring, hit his second double of the night to plate Billigen. Noonan tried scoring from first on the play, but was thrown out.

Butler scored its second run in the fourth when Sean Gusrang of Seton Hall University blooped a double to left, moved to third on a single by Quincy (Ill.) University's Brett Zuriene and scored on a sacrifice fly by Seton Hall's Frank Esposito.

The only Northcoast batters to reach base against Kahl were Ethan Santoro on a missed third strike and Greg Zebrack on a walk.

"Everything was working for me tonight," Kahl said. "Fastball, curve, changeup. ... I felt comfortable out there all night.

"There were a few butterflies in the first inning. I was keyed up because I never pitched in front of this many people before, but I settled down pretty quickly."

The Knights stayed overnight in Butler and will head up Route 8 to play the Slippery Rock Sliders in the latter's season debut at 7:05 p.m. today at Critchfield Park.

"Some of our players only had 15 to 20 at-bats during the college season and even the guys who played regularly have been sitting around for two or three weeks," Knights manager Andy Jarvis said. "Our bats will come around."

Notes: Attendance was about 700. ... Butler Mayor Maggi Stock and Butler County Commissioner Jim Lokhaiser threw out ceremonial first pitches. ... The Sliders play the BlueSox at 6:35 p.m. Saturday at Pullman Park. Seneca Valley graduate Cory Mazzoni pitches for the Sliders against New Castle product Andrew DiNardo for the BlueSox.

Northcoast 000 000 000 — 0 2 0Butler BlueSox 001 100 000 — 2 7 2W: Tom Kahl (6 IP) 9 K, 1 BB.

L: Brennan Smith (4 IP) 1 K, 1 BB.

Northcoast (0-1): Kevin Roundtre 1B, Evan Mistich 2B

Butler (1-0): Zacharey Noonan 1B, Kevin Youchak 2-2B RBI, Jack Greenberg 1B, Sean Gusrang 2B, Brett Zuriene 1B, Frank Esposito RBI, Brian Billigen 1B