EAST BUTLER — Heat and general mugginess in the air at Speed-O-Field had East Butler pitcher Jeremy Moorhead out of his comfort zone.

In the second inning, Mars had runners on first and second base with no outs.

Kevin Weigand hit a liner off Moorhead that was snagged by East Butler second baseman Tyler Markilinski, who threw to second for a double play.

Moorhead then settled in, helping top-seeded East Butler win 5-1 Tuesday in a Butler County Legion first-round playoff game.

“I started using my legs more,” Moorhead said. “I wasn’t driving off at the beginning of the game because I was hot and started thinking about it.”

Moorhead struck out five batters, scattered seven hits and didn’t walk any batters in seven innings of work for East Butler (12-3-1).

“Sometimes it seems like he’s a slow starter,” East Butler coach Steve Armahizer said. “He came on strong at the end and finished it up for us. He said he wanted to go all seven, sometimes as a coach you have to let them make the decision based on how they are feeling.”

East Butler’s offense, which produced nine hits, made Armahizer’s decision-making a lot easier.

Ian Steighner led off the game with a double and moved to third when DJ Osche advanced to first on a throwing error by Mars pitcher Nico Romano.

Alex Seybert drove in Steighner with a sacrifice fly and Garrett Goslaw followed with a triple that scored Osche.

Goslaw scored on a throwing error by Mars catcher Calin Gribbin, giving East Butler a 3-0 lead.

“I was seeing it good and he had a flat ball, there wasn’t a lot of movement on it,” Goslaw said. “It was flat coming out of his hand and I picked it up right away.”

Eighth-seeded Mars (4-11) opened the second with singles from Romano and Gribbin.

Weigand then hit into the double play and Luke Rouda flew out to end the threat.

“We gave up the three in the first inning and came out strong in the second inning,” Mars manager Cuff Weigand said. “We come out with a couple hits and if we get those couple inches, we get at least one run there. We got from no outs to two outs just like that, that deflated us.”

East Butler added another run in the fourth, when Romano’s pick-off throw went into center field, scoring Seybert.

Moorhead scored East Butler’s final run in the fourth. He led off with a double and scored on a single by Tyler Markilinski.

Zarek Simkovich scored Mars’ lone run.

He had a one-out single in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gribbin.

Mars attacked Moorhead more after the first few innings, taking fewer pitches.

“They seemed to pick up he was throwing first-pitch strikes,” Weigand said. “I told him if they like the pitch, go for it. A lot of the time when we got our pitch, they were on first-pitch strikes.”

Moorhead relied on his defense to help close out the game. They were right behind him.

“We’ve just been playing together all year and we can get it done if we let them,” Moorhead said. “If I let them hit the ball and they make the balls out there, I can do it.”

East Butler will meet Saxonburg in the second round Thursday. Fifth-seeded Saxonburg advanced with a 9-6 win over Karns City.

Mars 000 100 0 — 1 7 3

East Butler 301 100 x — 5 9 0

W: Jeremy Moorhead 7IP (5K, 0BB). L: Nico Romano 5IP (K, BB).

Mars (4-11): Nico Romano 2-1B, Calin Gribbin 1B RBI, Mike Colonello 1B, Zarek Simkovich 2-1B, Isaiah Johnson 1B.

East Butler (12-3-1): Ian Steighner 1B 2B, Garrett Goslow 1B 3B RBI, Hunter Scott 2-1B, Jeremy Moorhead 2B, Tyler Markilinski 1B RBI, Alex Seybert 1B RBI.

Thursday: Saxonburg at East Butler, Mars at Karns City.