BUTLER TW P — Shaler right-hander Antonio Acierno was a mystery to Butler coach Dave Florie.

In fact, he still can't figure him out.

"I had no idea who he was," Florie said. "I'd never seen him pitch before, so I had no book on him."

Acierno limited Butler to seven singles Tuesday, pitching a complete game for a much-needed 6-2 Titans victory.

Shaler began the day a game behind Seneca Valley for the final playoff spot from Section 1-AAAA.

"We don't use the word playoff right now," Titans coach Brian Junker said. "When you start off 1-5 in the league like we did, you can't use that word.

"All we're looking to do now is improve a game at a time. If we're in the mix at the end, that's great," he added.

Butler is averaging 7.3 runs per game and had scored fewer than five runs in a game only once — a 3-1 loss at North Allegheny — before Tuesday.

Florie said his team had a fair amount of H's (hard-hit balls), but a number of them went directly at Shaler defenders.

"They fielded the ball and made the plays. They deserve credit for that," Florie said. "That's going to happen to to our hitters sometimes. You're not going to score 10 runs every game.

"We had a couple of innings there where we lost focus. In a game like this, that costs you."

Acierno threw 95 pitches Tuesday, 60 for strikes.

"He only walked one, and that's when he's really effective," Junker said. "Our regular No. 1 pitcher (Zach Kreke) has been hurt all year and just came back. Now we feel like we've got a good 1-2 punch on the mound heading down the stretch."

The Titans scored an unearned run in the second inning when Zach Scramm reached on an infield error, moved to third on a Matt Ciesinski double and scored on John Orr's groundout to second.

The Tornado missed a golden opportunity to break through in the fourth inning, when John Crummy, Ryan Fennell and Bobby Swartwout hit consecutive singles to load the bases with one out. Cody Herald then scorched a one-hopper to third that turned into a home-to-first double play.

"That was a big, big play for us," Junker said. "We made the defensive plays today. When we lost to Butler at our place (5-1), we gave them four unearned runs. We gave up four unearned runs in a loss to Fox Chapel, five in a loss to North Hills."

Florie said the tone of the game might have changed if Herald's grounder "went a foot in another direction and got through."

Shaler broke the game open with a five-run fifth. A walk to Orr and consecutive doubles by Ryan Mincher and Ben Mulig chased Butler starter Zach Sessa. Ryan Fennell came on and hit consecutive batters with 0-2 counts.

Ed Jacquel doubled to plate two more runs and an infield error allowed another to score.

Butler scored its two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cody Montgomery and Mickey Fennell singled with two outs, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on an infield error.

Shaler has defeated section leaders North Allegheny and Butler in successive games.

"They came off the bus focused and played an intense game," Florie said.

Shaler 010 050 0 — 6 6 1Butler 000 020 0 — 2 7 3W: Antonio Acierno 7 IP (2 K, 1 BB).

L: Zach Sessa 4Z\c IP (2 K, 3 BB).

Shaler (7-6, 3-5): John Orr RBI, Ryan Mincher 2B 1B RBI, Ben Mulig 2B RBI, Mike Magliocco 2B, Ed Jacquel 2B 2-RBI, Matt Ciesinski 2B

Butler (10-3, 6-2): Mickey Fennell 1B, Roman Bargo 1B, John Crummy 1B, Ryan Fennell 1B, Bobby Swartwout 1B, Tyler Slepski 1B, Cody Montgomery 1B

Wednesday: Butler at Pine-Richland