Through its first three games against West Virginia this season, Butler had outscored the Miners 14-3 in a trio of victories.

On Friday night, it was the BlueSox’s turn to struggle offensively.

Four West Virginia pitchers held Butler to just five hits in a 5-3 win for the Miners at Kelly Automotive Park. The BlueSox stranded 11 runners on base, including nine over the final four innings.

“Our situational hitting has struggled a bit,” said Butler manager Anthony Rebyanski. “It will come around, but it’s absolutely frustrating when you have the opportunities that we had tonight.”

Butler took the first game of the two-game series by a score of 5-0 Thursday night.

“Our goal when we are on the road is to split,” West Virginia manager Tim Epling said. “Anthony does a great job. Butler is a good ball club.”

Trailing 5-2 and facing Miners’ reliever Kyle Palmer in the bottom of the eighth, a base-running mistake helped keep Butler from a potential big inning.

Nick Sell doubled to begin the frame and Taylor Schmidt walked before a double-steal gave the Sox runners at second and third with no outs.

Anthony Smith followed with a groundball to the left side. Sell broke for the plate and scored, but Schmidt was thrown out at third base when shortstop Grant Massey fielded the ball to his right and threw to third baseman Rob Youngblood, who applied the tag.

“Taylor is a guy I trust on the bases,” Rebyanski said. “He told me right after he was thrown out that he thought the ball was in the hole. We have to do a better job of recognizing things like that.”

Dalton Curtis, who came on to get the final out of the eighth inning, stranded two final baserunners in the ninth to earn the save.

Butler (5-4) did not manage a hit through the first five innings against Miners’ starter and eventual winning pitcher Cody Pope. The left-hander surrendered a run in the third inning when Collin Massanelli was hit by a pitch, went to second base on a wild pitch and then stole third. He scored on Stephen Sada’s groundout.

With a 4-1 lead, Pope allowed his first hit in the bottom of the sixth — Sada’s single to left — and the former was pulled in favor of Cody Smith. Sada would end up scoring later in the inning on Schmidt’s infield single.

“He (Pope) didn’t even have his best stuff tonight,” said Epling. “That’s the encouraging thing.”

The loss went to Butler starter Adam Bleday, who struggled in the first inning. He walked the first two batters, then surrendered a single to Massey to load the bases. An infield hit from Zach Woolcock plated the game’s first run, then Alex McKeon brought home a second run when he grounded into a double play.

Bleday would rebound, working into the sixth inning.

He was pulled there in favor of Austin Ross after walking Massey and allowing a single to Woolcock. Those two players would score, closing the book on Bleday with four runs on three hits while striking out four and walking four.

“From what I’ve seen from Adam, he’s usually around the plate,” said Rebyanski. “He ended up pitching well, but I think he just ran out of gas.”

The Miners (4-4) swiped seven bases in the game.

“We don’t run just to run, we have to be smart about it,” said Epling. “Our guys were able to take advantage of some things tonight.”

Tyler Swarmer (1 1/3 innings) and Kyle Zaorski (2/3) also pitched in relief for Butler.

West Virginia 200 002 100 — 5 8 0

Butler 001 001 010 — 3 5 2

W: Cody Pope 5+IP (4K, 1BB). L: Adam Bleday 5+IP (4K, 4BB). S: Dalton Curtis 1.1 IP (1K, 1BB).

West Virginia (4-4): Gavin Culler 1B R, Mike Brosseau 1B R RBI, Grant Massey 1B R, Zach Woolcock 2-1B R 2RBI, Charlie Padilla RBI, Paul Trenhaile 1B, Zach Knese 1B R, Westyn Baylor 1B

Butler (5-4): Stephen Sada 2-1B R RBI, Nick Sell 2B R, Taylor Schmidt 1B RBI, Anthony Smith RBI, Collin Massanelli R, Russell Clark 2B

Sunday: Butler at Richmond