Brendan Malone's cell phone rang at 5:55 p.m., five minutes before the scheduled start of Game 2 of the Eagle County League championship series.

On the other end was Mars' scheduled starting pitcher Matt DeSalvo and he had an urgent message for his manager and teammate.

“Hey,” DeSalvo said. “Get someone to pitch the first inning.”

“Matt is not your normal character,” said Malone, Mars' player/manager. “Mike (Johnson) was kind enough to get in there and throw an inning. We have five guys who can throw hard and throw strikes. Obviously, you want Matt DeSalvo on the mound.”

DeSalvo arrived, tossed a few warm-up pitches and then shut out Saxonburg for six innings in a 1-0 Mars win Monday night at Pullman Park.

The victory gives Mars a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series with Game 3 moving back to Marburger Field today.

Mars got the only run it needed in the top of the first inning against Saxonburg starter Colin McKee. Leadoff hitter Ryan Jones walked, stole second and scored on a RBI single by Malone.

“We knew when we got that one run that they were in big, big trouble,” Malone said. “(DeSalvo is) pretty much unhittable. He's good.”

DeSalvo spent parts of two seasons with the New York Yankees in 2007 and 2008. The 32-year-old New Castle native retired Saxonburg batters predominantly with the fastball.

DeSalvo was late to the ballpark because he was giving a pitching lesson.

He gave another to Saxonburg.

“The way I pitch and the way I teach pitching is make a guy prove he can hit your fastball,” DeSalvo said. “They are good hitters, but today they didn't really square anything up. I felt like I didn't need to throw a lot of offspeed pitches. In certain situations, when I needed to get guys out, I did.”

DeSalvo gave up four hits, struck out seven and didn't walk a batter in six innings. He didn't go to a three-ball count on any hitter.

Saxonburg's best chance to get to DeSalvo came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Ethan Williams singled and Jake Cortese doubled with one out.

Leadoff hitter Dustin Lolle then turned on a curveball, hitting a sharp grounder that Mars first baseman Dan Penberthy snagged sprawled out on the Pullman Park turf. He scrambled to his feet to get Lolle at first.

Cortese, though, broke for third thinking Williams was heading home and got caught between the bases. Williams then broke for home, but was thrown out by Penberthy to end the threat.

“That was a big-league hit right there,” DeSalvo said of Lolle. “He's supposed to swing over that, but he went down and got it. Two more feet to the left or the right, they're winning this game.”

The loss was a tough one for McKee, who matched DeSalvo pitch for pitch.

McKee struck out seven and walked three in seven innings. He also only gave up four hits.

“I couldn't have asked for anything better,” said Saxonburg manager Dan Cunningham. “He pitched an excellent game. They came out and seized an opportunity in the first inning.”

Saxonburg, which has only scored one run in the first two games of the series, is now left with the unenviable task of needing to win three straight to end Mars' dynasty.

Mars has won three straight Eagle County League championships and is one win away from a fourth straight.

Mars will go with Brian Zima on the hill for Game 3 while Saxonburg will counter with Mick Fennell.

“We're going to play them hard,” Cunningham said. “These guys aren't going to give up. I know that. I can't complain about the game. It was a really good game. We would have liked to have won this one, certainly, and made it 1-1. That's totally night and day from down 2-0.”

Mars 100 000 0 — 1 4 1

Saxonburg 000 000 0 — 0 4 1

W: Matt DeSalvo 6IP (7K, 0BB). L: Colin McKee 7IP (7K, 4BB).

Mars: Brendan Malone 1B RBI, Dan Penberthy 1B, Sam Sibeto 1B, Mike Johnson 1B

Saxonburg: Alex Ziegler 1B, Ryan Fennell 1B, Ethan Williams 1B, Jake Cortese 2B

Today: Game 3, Saxonburg at Mars, 6 p.m.