WEXFORD — Just six batters into his start, Butler pitcher Josh Grigoletti felt a pop in his right shoulder.

With his arm dangling at his side, Butler coaches and the trainers on hand at North Allegheny High School raced out to the mound to tend to him.

“The baseball gods weren't with him today,” said Butler baseball coach Cody Herald.

The gods frowned upon the Golden Tornado, too. For awhile, though, it appeared those game-fickle gods were smiling.

Grigoletti's right shoulder was quickly put back into place, but his night was prematurely done. Shane McIntire relieved him and had helped the Golden Tornado to a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth, but North Allegheny got several clutch hits to break the game open on the way to a 9-3 section win over Butler Wednesday night.

“The injury — it's unfortunate,” Herald said. “(Grigoletti) says he feel fine. He's still going to go get it checked out. He was doing a good job, too. There wasn't hard contact.”

But there was just enough of it for North Allegheny (6-3, 2-0) to do damage.

Grigoletti gave up three consecutive soft singles to start the game. In all, he gave up one run on four hits in a third of an inning before leaving with the shoulder injury after throwing a fastball for a strike.

McIntire finished off the strikeout and threw 3 2/3 innings.

McIntire was effective at keeping the North Allegheny hitters off balance with an array of off-speed pitches, including a sharp breaking curveball.

“Credit to him,” said NA coach Andrew Heck of McIntire. “Any time you can throw that breaking ball at the front hip in high school, that's difficult. Our guys were thinking it was going to hit them and then it breaks over the plate.”

But McIntire's magic ran out the second time through the Tigers' order.

Butler trailed 2-0 after two, but scratched across two runs in the top of the third against NA left-hander Kevin Schott thanks to a pair of singles and error and a sacrifice fly.

Butler (2-6, 1-1) took the 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth thanks to another NA error. But Schott settled down and worked six strong innings for the win.

The Tigers' offense then started catching up to McIntire, who had pitched Saturday against Hempfield.

“The second time through, we made some adjustments,” Heck said. “It was good to see that.”

NA was also aggressive on the bases. The Tigers swiped six bags and moved up several times on wild pitches.

“You can only do that so much, though,” Heck said. “You can get to second and third, but you still have to get a hit to get them home. Credit to our guys for getting the hit.”

Ryan Dougherty had two clutch hits for NA, driving in three. Cam Medic also had a two-run, two-out double and Jared Orwell had a two-run, two-out double as well for NA.

Butler, which only returned two varsity players from last year's team, is still looking for some of that magic.

Herald, though, said he was pleased with his team's approach at the plate, even though Butler managed just four hits.

Colby Anderson, one of those returning players, had a double.

“We can live with it,” Herald said. “We made a lot of good swings. We had liners and some shots that had their outfielders turning their back. They just made plays. Once you hit it, you can't control anything after that.

“We came back. We battled.”

Butler 002 100 0 — 3 4 2

North Allegheny 110 430 x — 9 11 2

W: Kevin Schott 6 IP (4K, 1BB). LP: Shane McIntire 3.2 IP (4K, 3BB).

Butler (2-6, 1-1): Kyle Weitzel 1B, Colby Anderson 2B, Nathan Stutz RBI, Simon Brown 1B, Zach Slomers 1B

North Allegheny (6-3, 2-0): CJ Weller 2-1B, Ryan Dougherty 2-1B 2B 2-RBI, Jared Orwell 2B 1B 3-RBI, Cam Medic 2B 2-RBI, Cole Young 2-1B, Shane Murphy RBI, Logan Andreyko 1B

Friday: Central Catholic at Butler, 7 p.m.