When Jared Locke found himself in a jam, he took matters into his own hands.

Locke struck out nine batters over six innings, allowing one run and three hits in the process to key the Butler BlueSox’s 3-1 triumph over the Lorain County Ironmen in Prospect League baseball action Friday night at Pullman Park.

“I got them at the right time,” Locke said. “And my catcher, Matt Albaugh, called a great game.

“I’m doing good right now, but there’s always room for improvement. You always want to try and get better,” he added.

In the second inning, Locke surrendered a leadoff double to Nathan Antone, but fanned the next two batters and then induced a groundout.

In the fourth inning, Lorain’s Michael Burke led off with a double, then one out later, Antone followed with an RBI double that tied the game at 1.

Locke, however, struck out Scott White and Jesse Carriere to end the threat. He also ended the fifth and sixth innings with strikeouts with a runner at second base both times.

“You always want to try and compete and do your best to keep them off the scoreboard,” Locke said.

“As a pitcher, he has to be as mentally tough as he is,” Blue Sox manager Anthony Rebyanski. “He just attacks hitters in the strike zone. His fastball has a lot of life to it and his off-speed does, too.”

Butler retook the lead in the fifth inning when Justin Brozick opened with a walk against Lorain starter Tony Naso and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt.

Elliott Caldwell walked and Chris Rasky was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brozick would score on a fielder’s choice at first to give the BlueSox the lead for good.

Lorain mounted one final threat in the seventh inning when, with one out, Kairee Tekra and John Koepf singled off reliever David Kucenic, but Jake Neuschaefer lined into an inning-ending double play.

In the seventh inning, Albaugh lined a two-out RBI single that plated Caldwell to close out the scoring.

The win allowed the BlueSox to even their record at 8-8, including a sparkling 7-2 mark at home.

“We’ve taken some bumps in the road, but everyone is resilient,” Rebyanski said. “They’re ready to get back out there one game at a time. We’ve played well together, but I tell them to take it one at-bat at a time, one pitch at a time, one inning at a time. We have to stay positive when things get negative.”

Notes: An RBI groundout by Neal Jacobs in the second inning accounted for the BlueSox’s first run ... Naso had three hit batsmen in his 6.2 innings of work... Butler grounded into double plays in two of the first three innings ... The BlueSox finished with 12 strikeouts and two walks; the Ironmen four strikeouts and four walks.

Lorain County 000 100 000 — 1 5 1

Butler 010 010 10x — 3 7 0

W: Jared Locke 6 IP (9K, 2BB). L: Tony Naso 6.2 IP (3K, 3BB).

Lorain (6-9): Michael Burke 2B; Nathan Antone 2-2B, RBI; Kairee Tekra 1B; John Koepf 1B

Butler (8-8): Elliott Caldwell 2-1B; Chris Rasky 1B; Kyle Petty RBI; Matt Albaugh 1B, RBI; Jason Radwan 1B; Neal Jacobs 1B, RBI; Andrew Elliott 1B

Saturday: Butler at Slippery Rock