Butler BlueSox manager Jason Wuerfel ran his hands through his hair, sighed and cracked a wry grin while trying to find the words to describe the latest absurdity in a summer full of them.

The Prospect League baseball team arrived home from Richmond, Ind., at 6 a.m. Thursday — later than planned because of a snafu in the scheduling of umpires for its game against the River Rats Wednesday night.

Awaiting them at Pullman Park Thursday was a pair of scheduled seven-inning games against Slippery Rock as part of a doubleheader.

It turned into a triple-header.

"My 5-Hour Energy wore off eight hours ago," Wuerfel said.

Butler split the games with Slippery Rock, winning the first 4-2 in 1 hour, 24 minutes.

The second game took much longer to decide.

A.J. Miller hit an inside-the-park, two-run home run in the top of the 13th inning for Slippery Rock as Butler center fielder Zach Duggan crashed into the wall while trying to track down the long fly ball for the decisive runs in a 6-4 Sliders win.

For the Sliders, winning the second game was a must.

"It showed a lot of grit," said Slippery Rock manager Andy Chalot. "One of the hardest things to do in a doubleheader is win the first one. Usually if you win the first one and get up on someone quickly in the second one, the other team will fold. But we didn't. We battled back."

In the second game, Slippery Rock (14-25 overall, 5-7 in the second half) fell behind 2-0 after one inning and trailed 3-1 after four.

But the Sliders scratched across three runs in the top of the fifth off Butler starter Cole Taylor to take a 4-3 lead.

Butler (17-25, 4-11) tied it at 4 in the bottom of the fifth and then both teams left the game up to their bullpens.

Mark Allen Bounds pitched seven scoreless innings out of the pen to get the win for Slippery Rock. The BlueSox's Kurt Roeder threw six scoreless before the two-run homer by Miller.

Both managers were happy with the split, but Wuerfel was particularly pleased with the fight his weary team showed.

"I couldn't be prouder of this group of guys," Wuerfel said. "These guys have lost in heartbreaking fashion over and over and over again ... yet these guys are still busting their butts like this when it would be very easy for guys who are not ballplayers to mentally and physically completely shut it down."

Duggan, a Seneca Valley graduate, almost was added to the long list of BlueSox wounded.

He lay motionless on the warning track after hitting the wall head first while trying to chase down Miller's drive.

Duggan remained in the game.

"I'm proud of the kid," Wuerfel said. "He's playing summer ball, our record isn't where we want it to be. It would be easy for him to pull up and play the ball off the wall, but instead he goes head first into it. You have to love that."

Chalot loves what he is seeing from his team lately. He was particularly pleased with the effort turned in by Bounds, who threw 90 pitches in his seven innings of three-hit relief.

"Bounds has just been a machine out there," Chalot said.

Game 1Slippery Rock 001 010 0xx — 2 10 1Butler 040 000 xxx — 4 5 0W: Tim Giel 6 IP (4 K, 0 BB).

L: Sean Mahley 6 IP (5 K, 3 BB).

Slippery Rock: Erick Miranda 2-1B, Mahley 2B 2-RBI

Butler: Zach Duggan RBI, Tyler Sciacca 2-1B, Adam Jury 2-1B RBI, Colby Roberts 1B RBI

Game 2Slippery Rock 010 030 000 000 2 — 6 15 1Butler 200 110 000 000 0 — 4 10 0W: Mark Allen Bounds 7 IP (5 K, 1 BB).

L: Kurk Roeder 7 IP (0 K, 0 BB).

Slippery Rock (14-25, 5-7): A.J. Miller HR 2-RBI, Mahley 3B 2-1B, Matt Baer 2B 1B, Matt Fenster 4-1B, Brady Stewart 2-2B 1B RBI, Miranda 2B RBI

Butler (17-25, 4-11): Austin Wulf 2B 1B, Kevan Smith 2-1B 2-RBI, Cameron Squires 2B RBI, Adam Jury 2-1B, Logan Uxa 2B