Dallas O’Donnell didn’t know what to expect when he joined the Butler BlueSox as an intern in 2009.

It was the club’s first season in the Prospect League and O’Donnell did a little bit of everything while still enrolled as a sophomore at Slippery Rock University.

That job has blossomed for the Butler High graduate.

Seven years later, O’Donnell just concluded his first season as the BlueSox general manager.

“No, I really didn’t think (I’d be here seven years later),” O’Donnell said. “I’m the only intern who has been here from the beginning.”

O’Donnell landed with the BlueSox originally after learning of the new club in the Butler Eagle.

He reached out to then-owner Leo Trich about joining the team in some capacity.

Trich welcomed him aboard as an intern — one of only seven that first season.

The road to the BlueSox was similar for Butler native Patrick Reddick, who graduated from SRU in 2012 with a degree in communications-emerging technology.

Reddick was looking for a summer job while still in school in 2009 when he reached out to Trich.

“I told him I’d like to keep score,” Reddick said. “I always enjoyed keeping score and he said that was one of the positions he was worried about filling. It just sort of developed from there.”

Now O’Donnell and Reddick have been with the club since the start and have seen 201 home games at Kelly Automotive Park.

“It’s awesome. I love it,” O’Donnell said. “I love it here and the BlueSox are definitely growing. My first year we only had two paid staff. This year we probably have six or seven paid staff and another dozen or so unpaid. Our staff has tripled.”

After his first year as an intern, O’Donnell bumped up to a part-time paid position with ticket sales in the second season.

O’Donnell was promoted to general manager last offseason.

But general manager with a Prospect League team is much different than many people realize, O’Donnell said.

“The thing people think of when they think GM is what Neal Huntington does with the Pirates,” O’Donnell said. “I really don’t have a whole lot to do with the roster. I handle all the front office stuff. I handle a staff of 15 people. I help with tickets, on-field stuff, gate, promotions, anything that goes on. Everything that happens behind the scenes.”

Reddick’s job is more clear-cut.

He’s in charge of disseminating information via the club’s website and writing press releases.

He’s also a number-cruncher, a self-proclaimed stat-geek.

When the game starts, he does live scoring on the league’s website.

“It’s nice because there are so many different things to do,” Reddick said. “I’m doing something new every day, whether it is writing articles for website or press releases or working on the podcast. It’s small enough that I can try new things and I have the freedom to experiment.”

Reddick, though, has the most fun when the game begins.

He remembers going to a Pirates’ game as a little kid with his grandfather, who taught him how to keep score.

Every since then, he was hooked.

“At six o’clock, I get to sit down and watch baseball every night,” Reddick said.

Both O’Donnell and Reddick see no reason to leave the club right now.

They are both determined to help the franchise continue to blossom.

“It’s growing year to year,” Reddick said. “As long as we improve every year — that’s what I try to do with the website. My goal for years has been to have a new article up every day.”

“It’s definitely a growing thing,” O’Donnell added. “I would love to do something like this forever.”