Shawn Pynn called his Slippery Rock Sliders baseball team a bunch of scumbags.

And that’s a good thing.

“Right now, we have a good group of scumbags,” Pynn said, smiling. “I want those scummy guys.”

These Prospect League scumbags have been on quite a roll lately, including an 11-8 win over Butler at Pullman Park Tuesday night.

After a disastrous start to the second half of the season, the Sliders have won three of their last four games to climb back to within striking distance of the East Division leaders with 12 games left to play.

For much of the season, Slippery Rock has shown glimpses, only to suffer an extended skid.

This time, though, Pynn believes he is seeing something different: A scrappy team going down swinging.

“We have raised our average 40 points in the last nine, 10 days,” Pynn said. “We’re definitely hitting stride at the right time. Right now, we are playing the way we thought we would. It might be a little late, but we control our own destiny.”

Slippery Rock (7-11) wasted little time in getting to Butler starter Dave Yakopec, stringing together four consecutive singles with two outs in the top of the first for a 2-0 lead.

The Sliders went up 5-1 in the top of the third inning and chased Yakopec.

Slippery Rock banged out 17 hits in the game, scored in six of the first seven innings and stole seven bases.

The No. 8 and 9 hitters, Trent Wooldridge and Alex Lang, stole three bases apiece.

“Our guys did a good job taking each 90-foot section that they gave us,” Pynn said. “We took the extra base and then the next guy came up and knocked him in.”

Radley Haddad went 4-for-4 and scored three runs and Ryan Abernathy went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Sliders.

Michael Chiaro picked up the win in relief of starter Jesse Mowen. Chiaro struck out three in 3 1-3 innings.

Zack Walsh, who hasn’t given up a run in five consecutive outings, pitched a perfect ninth for the save.

Pynn called Walsh the head scumbag.

“He’s nuts,” Pynn said. “We call him John Rocker. A couple of games ago against Chillicothe, he throws a pitch with a runner on first and second in a tie game in the 10th inning, a guy hits a screamer back at him. He ends up hobbling on one leg 15 feet, picks up the ball and somehow makes it over to first base on time to save the game. He ends up sprinting off to the bench on one leg. We take him to the hospital and they think he broke his leg.

“The next day, he comes out and says, ‘Coach, I’m good to go,’” Pynn added. “He’s nuts.”

The way Butler (9-9) has played lately has been driving BlueSox manager Anthony Rebyanski bonkers.

Rebyanski met with his team for nearly 20 minutes after the club’s seventh straight loss.

He said he plans on having his players arrive at Pullman Park early today for a crash course on fundamental baseball.

“That’s been the story of the last seven games — base-running mistakes, fundamentals,” said Rebyanski, who watched his baserunners get picked off twice. “Not getting a bunt down. Not throwing strikes. Not slide stepping with runners on base. Giving up stolen bases — a single turns into a triple like that.

“I’ll admit, it’s frustrating,” he added. “(Today) we’re going to work on that stuff, the little things guys don’t like to do.”

Butler did go down swinging, however.

George Roberts hit a two-run home run and drove in four and the BlueSox had a knack of answering Slippery Rock big innings with ones of their own.

It just wasn’t enough.

“You’re on a seven-game skid,” Rebyanski said. “It’s tough for them and it’s tough for me. You have to start one game at a time. (Today), we’re 0-0.”

Slippery Rock 212 032 100 — 11 17 0

Butler 100 230 200 — 8 10 0

W: Michael Chiaro 3.1IP (3K, 0BB). L: Dave Yakopec 3IP (3K, 2BB).

Slippery Rock (7-11): Mike Porcaro 1B RBI, Derek Peake 2B 1B 2-RBI, Dan Hurlimann 1B RBI, Radley Haddad 4-1B 3-R, Pat Gelwicks 2B 1B 2-RBI, Ryan Abernathy 2B 2-1B 3-RBI, Trent Wooldridge 2-1B 2-R 3-SB, Alex Lang 2-1B RBI 3-SB

Butler (9-9):Brendan Costantino 2-1B, Elliott Caldwell 1B, George Roberts HR 2-1B 4-RBI, Matt Albaugh 2B 2-1B 2-RBI, Jon Danielczyk 1B

Today: Slippery Rock at Butler