No championship in place yet, but the Slippery Rock Sliders do have a championship belt.

The belt — resembling that of a pro wrestling champion — is presented by the coaching staff each night to its selected player of the game.

“Radley Haddad's gotten it the last two nights and he easily could have gotten it tonight,” Sliders manager Shawn Pynn said after his team's 9-5 win over the slumping Butler BlueSox Wednesday night at Pullman Park.

Haddad had a double, two singles, two runs scored and an RBI for the Sliders. The team's No. 4 hitter combined with No. 3 man Dan Hurlimann and No. 5 hitter Ryan Abernathy to collect eight hits and six runs scored Wednesday.

But No. 8 hitter Trent Wooldridge received the belt on this night, getting a pair of two-strike singles and driving home a run. The Sliders won their third straight game behind a 13-hit attack.

“The middle part of our lineup has been very good. I don't know if any team in the league can swing the bats with us right now ... I mean, right now,” Pynn said.

“The bottom part of our lineup is contributing as well, doing the little things right. I liked the way Trent handled his at bats tonight. We give that belt out as a fun thing to do, something to keep the spirits up.”

The BlueSox could use a morale boost of their own right now.

Butler fell behind 3-0 early before rallying to tie the game. Kyle Petty tripled to center in the third and scored on a George Roberts sacrifice fly. Roberts delivered a run-scoring single in the fifth and Eric Hess drew a bases-loaded walk.

But the BlueSox committed five errors over the final five frames, adding a few mental mistakes, in dropping their eighth straight game.

Butler manager Anthony Rebyanski gave the team a lengthy talk after the contest.

“I talked about things like mental toughness, every day's a new day, short memories and picking each other up,” Rebyanski said. “When you make an error, you have to be hungry enough to want the next guy to hit the ball to you.

“At 11:59 p.m., you can forget about whatever happened that day and get ready for the next one.”

Steve Sulcoski reached on an infield error to begin the Sliders' sixth inning and scored on a two-out single by Alex Lang. Three singles and an error to begin the seventh wound up in a three-run inning.

The Sliders bunched together four singles — joined by an errant pickoff attempt — to score twice more in the ninth.

“Earlier in the season, we wouldn't have taken advantage of errors like that after losing a lead,” Pynn said. “We would have lost focus. It may be a little late, but we're putting things together now.”

Winning pitcher Max Deering scattered six hits over eight innings, throwing 114 pitches. He walked four and hit two batters.

“The umpire called a consistent, but tight zone tonight,” Pynn said. “Max needs some leeway on the corners and didn't get it. But he pitched a very strong game.”

Elliott Caldwell hit a two-out, two-run homer for the BlueSox in the ninth, tying the Prospect League single-season record with his 80th hit. He has seven homers and 45 RBI on the year and entered the game with a .382 batting average.

“Elliott is proud of the accomplishment, but isn't happy because we lost,” Rebyanski said. “These guys care. They really do. It's a special group of people and they want to win.

“It's my job to put the best nine guys on the field each day. It's my job to help get guys out of funks. That's what we're trying to do.

“We've gotten great support from the Butler community and that's not going away. Butler is a baseball town and from the crowds to the owners to the front office ... It's always a positive atmosphere around here,” Rebyanski added.

Notes: the BlueSox are below .500 for the first time in the season's second half. ... Petty had two runs scored, Roberts two RBI for the BlueSox. ... A bat sailed into the stands following a swing and miss in the eighth inning and struck a woman on the leg. She was treated at the scene and watched the remainder of the game.

Slippery Rock 102 001 302 — 9 13 0

BlueSox 001 020 002 — 5 7 5

W: Max Deering 8IP (4K, 4BB). L:Calyn Young 6IP (5K, 2BB).

Slippery Rock (8-11): Dan Hurlimann 2-1B 2-R, Radley Haddad 2B 2-1B RBI 2-R, Ryan Abernathy 3-1B 2-RBI 2-R, Steve Sulcoski RBI, Jeff Revesz 1B RBI, Trent Wooldridge 2-1B RBI, Alex Lang 2-1B 2-RBI

Butler (9-10): Brendan Costantino 1B, Elliott Caldwell HR 2-RBI 2-R, Kyle Petty 3B 1B 2-R, George Roberts 1B 2-RBI, Eric Hess 1B RBI, Neal Jacobs 1B

Today: Slippery Rock at Chillicothe, Richmond at BlueSox