Matt Peters was mobbed at second base after his double ended one of the longest nights of baseball in Butler BlueSox history.

Teammates then doused him with ice water as he explained how he turned a bad night at the plate into a very good one.

“I was struggling before that at-bat,” Peters said, smiling. “I think I was 0-for-6 until then. I was just looking for something I could drive.”

Peters got one — a knuckleball floated in by Anthony Nemer that didn't quite knuckle enough — and Peters put the finishing touches on Butler's 3-2 win over Lorain County in 14 innings at Pullman Park Thursday night.

“I did what I was supposed to do,” said Peters, who came into the game batting .393 before failing to get a hit in his first six at-bats.

His double just out of the reach for Lorain center fielder Scott Splett brought home Jordan Schwartz with the winning run with two outs in the 14th.

Butler had stranded the bases loaded in the 12th and two runners in scoring position in the 10th and 11th innings before finally breaking through.

It also took a strange rally in the bottom of the 11th to extend the game after Lorain had taken a 2-1 lead in the top of the frame thanks to two consecutive wild pitches by Butler relief pitcher Tyler Ferguson.

With two outs and runners on first and second, Butler graduate Cody Herald hit a high fly ball to center field. Herald slammed his bat down in disgust and ran to first, thinking the game was over.

However, Splett misjudged the fly ball and made a diving stab at it at the last second, only to see it squirt out of his glove for a bloop RBI double.

And new life for Butler.

“There's absolutely no letup whatsoever,” said Butler manager Anthony Rebyanski. “It's the nature of this team. It's been the nature of this team for the three years I have been here.”

Things got goofier in the bottom of the 12th inning.

After Alex Jurich was hit by a pitch, Schwartz laid down a sacrifice bunt. Schwartz, though, dropped the bat in fair territory in front of the plate and the ball rolled into it during the play. Schwartz beat out the throw for a single.

Lorain argued Schwartz should be out because of interference. The rule, though, states that if the umpire deems that the bunter dropped the bat in fair ground unintentionally and the ball makes contact with the bat, it is still a live ball.

Lorain pitcher Mike Koltak didn't agree and was ejected by the base umpire. He had to be restrained by teammates and manager Joe Rhomberg.

Nemer entered the game cold and got out of the jam with a very slow knuckleball that confounded Butler hitters for two innings.

“That's not easy to hit,” Rebyanski said. “It made his fastball look like it was coming in at 98. He kept us off balance.”

The BlueSox finally got to Nemer in the 14th to put a cap on a wild game.

“You definitely get some momentum out of a win like this,” Peters said. “We battled the whole time. Our pitchers did a great job keeping us in the game.”

GJ Senchak got the start and worked seven strong innings, giving up just one run on six hits while striking out five.

Tyler Swarmer worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings out of the pen and Adam Tyson got the win with three scoreless innings.

Butler scored in the bottom of the first inning when Alex Miklos stole home for the second time this season.

“Any time I get to third, especially with two outs, I take a peek to see if the pitcher is in his windup,” Miklos said. “I just figured I'd try to be aggressive again.”

“We don't have the power to bang the ball out of ballpark like we did last year,” Rebyanski said. “We make a lot of things happen on the basepaths.”

The two teams will meet again tonight with depleted bullpens.

Grove City High graduate Jon Anderson, who threw a complete-game shutout on only 69 pitches last week, will be on the hill for the BlueSox.

“(Tonight) is going to be a tough one. The bullpen is going to be really, really thin,” Rebyanski said. “Jon pitched well the last time. I'm hoping he can give us seven solid innings. We'll see what happens.”

Lorain County 000 100 000 010 00 — 2 10 1

Butler 100 000 000 010 01 — 3 12 1

Two out when winning run scored

W: Adam Tyson 3IP (2K, 0BB). L: Anthony Nemer 2.2IP (0K, 1BB).

Lorain (7-8): Isaac Smith 1B, Tyler Coughenour 1B, Scott Splett 1B, Zach Ratcliff 1B, Derek Sprout 1B, Nate Lanhals 2B 1B, Tyler Bires 1B RBI, Troy Summers 1B

Butler (8-7): Ryan Fitzgerald 2B, Alex Miklos 2-1B 2-SB, Matt Peters 2B RBI, Pat McCarthy 1B, Cody Herald 2B, Tyler Detmer 2-1B, Alex Zurich 1B, Jordan Schwartz 2-1B, Russell Clark 1B

Today: Lorain County at Butler, 7:05