BUTLER TWP — North Allegheny's Tanner Wilt received all the offense he would need before he ever threw a pitch.

The junior right-hander watched his teammates stake him to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and the Tigers went on to defeat host Butler 8-2 Thursday night.

Wilt pitched six innings, gave up one run on four hits while striking out seven and walking four to earn the win.

"He had three pitches going for strikes tonight: fastball, curveball and changeup," said NA coach Andy Maddix. "He's just a good pitcher."

"I was spotting my fastball well," said Wilt. "I made a couple of mistakes and paid for them. Butler is a good-hitting team."

Wilt was referring to the one run he gave up, which came in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Tornado's Ryan Fennell drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a balk and scored on Bobby Swartwout's base hit, cutting NA's edge to 3-1.

But the Golden Tornado would get no closer.

Fennell started the game on the mound, but he began to struggle after the first batter.

NA's Rob Sittig, Nick Sell and Zach Stein all singled to load the bases.

Mike Cammarata drew a walk to score Sittig and Cody Gaertner singled to bring home Sell, after which Florie pulled the senior right-hander in favor of C.J. Miller.

"It seemed like they knew Ryan would be pitching today," Butler coach Dave Florie said. "Ryan's a fastball pitcher and they were sitting on it.

"It just wasn't his day and so we made the switch."

Miller gave up another run, charged to Fennell, on Brice Nikithser's sacrifice fly.

Butler's lineup struggled against Wilt right from the start, tallying two baserunners in the first three innings.

Following the Tornado's run in the fourth, Wilt escaped trouble in the fifth after Colin Williamson walked and Miller singled.

Wilt induced Mickey Fennell and Roman Bargo to ground out as Butler left runners at second and third and failed to close the gap, which had grown to 6-1 after NA's three runs in the top of the inning.

The Tornado had men at first and second in the sixth following an infield single from John Crummy and a walk to Tyler Slepski, but again left them stranded.

"In between innings, our kids kept saying that they could get to him (Wilt)," said Florie. "You have to allow them to go up to the plate and take their cuts, but we just didn't hit like we're capable of."

Cammarata's sacrifice fly, followed by Nikithser's RBI-double in the seventh gave the Tigers (13-2, 8-1) an 8-1 lead.

Butler did manage a run off NA closer Pat Bradley when Bargo's double scored Mickey Fennell to cap the scoring.

Butler (10-5, 6-4) has dropped three straight section games.

"I'm not worried about the team's confidence," said Florie. "We played well on Wednesday (in a 3-2 loss to Pine-Richland). You can build off things like that, even if you don't win the game."

Miller pitched 6X\c innings for the Tornado, striking out six, walking one and allowing five runs on eight hits.

North Allegheny 300 030 2 — 8 12 1Butler 000 100 1 — 2 6 0W: Tanner Wilt 6 IP (7 K, 4 BB). L: Ryan Fennell 1/3 IP (0 K, 1 BB).

North Allegheny (13-2, 8-1): Eric Harbison 1B, Rob Sittig 2-1B R, Nick Sell 1B 2B 3R SB, Zach Stein 1B 2R, Mike Cammarata 2B R 4 RBI, Cody Gaertner 2-1B R 2 RBI, Brice Nikithser 2-2B 2 RBI, Matt Waugaman 2B

Butler (10-5, 6-4): Mickey Fennell 1B R, Roman Bargo 2B RBI, John Crummy 1B, Ryan Fennell 1B R, Bob Swartwout 1B RBI, C.J. Miller 1BSaturday: Butler at Canon McMillan