CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The best season in Butler BlueSox history came to an end Thursday night when the Chillicothe Paints eliminated them from the Prospect League playoffs with a 6-2 victory.

With a limited roster, the BlueSox battled, but couldn’t keep pace with the Paints’ strong offense.

“I was looking at the lineup cards today and we only had 17 guys and they had a full roster,” BlueSox Manager Anthony Rebyanski said. “It is hard to beat them without a full bench or bullpen.

“These guys that were here didn’t quit and I told them after the game that I am proud of them for sticking it out to the end.”

The Paints got what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the fifth when Ronnie Dawson broke for home on a ground out to second base by Matt Hopfner. After recording the out, first baseman Ryan Uhl threw home, but Dawson slid in ahead of the tag of catcher Russell Clark.

Butler threatened the next half inning by loading the bases on Paints starter Lance Elder with one out. Elder was able to get a pop out by Clark and then gave way to reliever Bryce Arledge. The lefty induced a ground out by Mick Fennell to get out of the jam.

Elder picked up the win, allowing two runs on seven hits.

After Arledge was able to preserve the lead for Chillicothe, the bats added insurance in the bottom of the sixth when Deion Tansel tripled home Gregory Rhude. It was the second straight night that Tansel came up with a key extra base hit that scored a run.

“Tansel hurt his hand earlier in the year,” Chillicothe manager Greg Cypret said. “We’d like him to be farther up in the order, but his hand is still bothering him a little. He has really solidified the bottom of our lineup the last two nights.”

Tansel scored on a Zach Jacobs single to push the lead to 5-2. The Paints would add another run in the eighth.

Butler starter Adam Bleday gave up a run in the bottom of the first, but escaped a big inning when he got Adam Gauthier to ground into a fielder’s choice to strand the bases loaded.

From there, Bleday worked in and out of trouble through most of his five innings of work. He gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out four. He stranded seven runners.

“Bleday is one of the best pitchers in the league,” Cypret said. “We just wanted to make him work hard tonight, even if he put up scoreless innings. I think it helped us some that he was the fourth lefty starter in a row that we had faced.”

The BlueSox got on the board in the top of the fourth when Colin Massanelli grounded out to score Jeff Revesz. They were able to take a brief lead when the next batter, Forrest Perron, lined a double into the left center gap to score Uhl.

The Paints came right back, however, in the bottom half when Gregory Rhude hit a leadoff single and ended up scoring on a two-out wild pitch.

“Chillicothe always has a good hitting team and they will probably continue that in the future,” Rebyanski said. “I think it will be tough for the team coming out of the west to beat these guys.”

Trace Dempsey came on with two outs in the eighth and got Clark to ground into a fielder’s choice with two runners on. He allowed a leadoff single to Fennell in the top of the ninth, but then struck out the side to close things out.

Though the BlueSox were unable to advance to the championship in their maiden playoff voyage, they set numerous records this summer, including most wins in a regular season at 40. It is something Rebyanski thinks they can build on.

“We have been getting better every year as an organization,” Rebyanski said. “I am really proud of the season we’ve had and we look forward to coming back and trying to do it again next year.”

BlueSox 000 200 000 — 2 10 1

Chillicothe 100 112 01X — 6 11 0

W: Lance Elder 5.2IP (2K, 2BB). L: Adam Bleday 5IP (4K, 1BB).

Butler (40-22): Mick Fennell 3-1B, Ryan Uhl 1B 2B, Collin Massanelli 1B 2B, Forrest Perron 1B 2B, Steve Sada 1B

Chillicothe (42-20): Deion Tansel 1B 3B, T.J. Diffenderfer 1B 2B, Joe Hoscheit 2-1B, Grefgory Rhude 2-1B, Chad Sedio 1B, Zach Jacobs 1B, Ronnie Dawson 1B