Danville’s bats entered Friday’s Prospect League baseball doubleheader on fire.

Then they ran into Connor Coward.

The Butler pitcher and Seneca Valley graduate tamed Danville’s lineup, allowing just a single run on three hits in six innings as the BlueSox won Game 1 by a score of 3-1 at Kelly Automotive Park.

The Dans had won four straight games, with the offense averaging nine runs and 13 hits per contest in that span.

“He’s the best pitcher on our side (East Division),” said Butler manager Jason Radwan of Coward. “Danville plays in the West and one of their guys told me he’s the best pitcher they’ve seen this year.

“He gets ahead of hitters and can throw all three of his pitches (four-seam fastball, knuckle curve and change-up) for strikes. When he does that, he’s very tough to hit.”

Danville’s offense remained in the freezer in Game 2, collecting just three hits, but missed opportunities led to a 3-2 loss for Butler.

The only run the Dans managed against Coward was unearned. In the top of the second inning, Matt Fortin led off with a single, reached second base on an error and scored on Josh Smith’s two-out base hit.

Coward struck out the next batter, Joey Fiske, to end the inning. It was the beginning of a string of 13 straight batters Coward set down to end his outing.

“I didn’t pitch all that well the first two innings,” admitted Coward, who attends Virginia Tech. “But I started getting my curveball over after that. My knuckle curve is what separates me from other guys in college. I throw it about 40 percent of the time here.”

Coward is now 2-0 with a 2.07 ERA this season. He said that Danville is one of the toughest lineups he’s faced in his season and a half with the BlueSox, adding, “This league has some great hitters. In the ACC, if you make a mistake, 90 percent of the time hitters are going to make you pay for it. That doesn’t happen as much here, but there are still hitters putting good wood on good pitches.”

Coward received all the support he would need in the bottom of the first inning. Dalton Hoiles’ two-run single scored Tyler Sullivan and Will Schneider.

Russell Clark drove in an insurance run in the sixth when his double chased home Dillon Sunnafrank.

Kyle Zurak closed the game in style with three strikeouts in the seventh inning.

Butler’s Game 2 starting pitcher, David Calderon, struggled with control for much of his outing, which lasted just 3 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked seven, though he allowed just three runs on two hits.

“He had walked some this year, but this was his worst start of the season,” said Radwan. “But even though he didn’t have his best stuff, he grinded, got some outs and ate up a few innings for us.”

Butler (11-9) had a chance to post a big inning in the fourth. Nick Stotler was hit by a pitch from Ricky Karcher, who proceeded to walk Sunnafrank and Tyler Niemann with one out to load the bases.

Brian Allec was called in from Danville’s bullpen. He served up a sacrifice fly to Jake Kennedy for Butler’s first run, but stopped the bleeding there, getting Pavin Parks to flyout.

The Sox cut Danville’s lead to one run in the seventh as Nick Spangler’s one-out triple plated Sullivan.

But with the tying run just 90 feet away, Dans’ reliever Chris Fearon struck out Schneider and Stotler to end the game.

One bright spot for Butler was the effort of relief pitcher Jack Herzing, who took over for Calderon with two outs in the fourth. Herzing allowed just one hit in 3 1/3 scoreless frames, striking out three and walking three.

“He’s been up and down this year,” said Radwan. “With him, it’s a confidence thing. He relies a lot on his curveball, but he also has a good fastball and he threw it a lot tonight. That was a good sign.”

Game 1

Danville 010000 0 — 1 3 0

Butler 200 001 x — 3 7 1

W: Connor Coward 6 IP (7K, 0BB). L: Trent Johnson 5 IP (5K, 3BB). S: Kyle Zurak 1 IP (3K, 0BB).

Danville: Mason Irby 1B, Matt Fortin 1B R, Josh Smith 1B RBI

Butler: Tyler Sullivan 3-1B R, Will Schneider R, Nick Stotler 1B, Dalton Hoiles 1B 2RBI, Dillon Sunnafrank 1B R, Russell Clark 2B RBI

Game 2

Danville 021 000 0 — 3 3 0

Butler 000 100 1 — 2 4 2

W: Brian Allec 2 IP (1K, 0BB). L: David Calderon 3.2 IP (3K, 7BB). S: Chris Fearon 0.2 IP (2K, 0BB).

Danville (11-7): Mason Irby R, Matt Fortin 1B, Matthew Holcomb 1B R, Grant Mayeaux R, Andrew Curran 1B, Robert Greenman RBI

Butler (11-9): Tyler Sullivan 1B R, Nick Spangler 3B RBI, Nick Stotler 1B R, Dillon Sunnafrank 2B, Jake Kennedy RBI

Saturday: Kokomo at Butler