BUTLER TWP — The last few seasons have been trying ones for the Butler baseball team.

The Golden Tornado went 3-16 in 2005 and posted a 2-16 mark the year before that.

But their fortunes have changed as quickly as a fastball zipping across the plate. Butler is 7-4 overall and 4-1 in the section after a 9-8 win over North Hills at Highfield Park Wednesday.

It wasn't pretty. Butler committed five errors and reliever Dallas O'Donnell threw an array of offspeed pitches to an unsteady win.

But it was a victory.

"Another shaky, scary win," said first-year coach Dave Florie. "I just told the boys, 'I don't know if the ol' ticker can take many more like that.' To me, that's not baseball. A lot of times these games go the other way."

But these games have gone Butler's way this season.

Part of it has been Florie's "small ball" approach. Butler laid down seven bunts in the contest, beating out three of them for hits and moving runners along with the others.

The old school approach helped Butler victimize North Hills starter Evan Euler, who went the distance despite giving up nine runs on 14 hits and throwing more than 120 pitches in six innings.

The Golden Tornado also weren't shy about taking an extra base whenever possible.

"That's what I like," Florie said. "I don't always have power hitters.I don't always have people who can hit the ball over the fences. You have to adjust. These kids work at their bunting real hard."

It has paid large dividends already.

Butler is suddenly thrust into a section title race with Florie's former team, Seneca Valley.

The Raiders are 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the section. The two teams meet Friday at Seneca Valley for the first big game Butler has played in years.

For Florie, it's a return to the place where he led the Raiders to WPIALand PIAA titles in the 1990s.

"It will be sentimental when I get there," Florie said. "I'll know every blade of grass. I'll know every piece of dirt. But that can't interfere with what we are trying to do. We're trying to teach these kids baseball."

Butler already has learned how to overcome adversity.

The Golden Tornado led 2-0 after two innings, but North Hills (6-5, 1-4) put up five runs in the top of the third inning.

No worry. Butler stormed back with six runs in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead for good.

"Any time you come from behind is great," Florie said. "It says a lot about the character of the kids. I call it moxie."

The players call it refreshing.

Andy Onufrak collected three hits and drove in two runs; Daren Blakley brought home two more with a double in the six-run third and Jim McCaslin beat out two bunt singles.

In all, eight of the nine players in the Golden Tornado lineup collected at least one hit.

"The team here had become accustomed to losing," said senior right fielder Brandon Johnston. "And now that we have started to win — it's been amazing.

"Last year, we kind of came to the field dead and we didn't expect to win. This year, we come to the field and we're ready to compete. We feel like we can beat any team inPennsylvania."

Florie credits a lot of the success to his three assistant coaches, pitching coach Frank Pinto, hitting coach George Bradley and outfield coach Chris Rock.

"I got super, super lucky to get those guys," Florie said. "They inspire me. The get here sometimes before me for practice."

The players credit the turnaround to hard work and a major attitude adjustment.

"At the beginning of the season, we knew we had a good team here," said senior first baseman AaronOrdy, who went 2-for-4 to keep his batting average at .500 for the season. "Right now, we're real comfortable with what we have going on here."

What they will have on Friday is a prime-time game against a prime-time rival.

It may be the biggest game any of the Butler players have participated in since Pony League.

"We're pretty pumped to play it," Ordy said. "It's a big game for us. Huge. We want to win. We want to be on top of the section for once in our careers."

North Hills 005 020 1—8 7 3Butler 026 100 x—9 13 5WP: Dallas O'Donnell (4 IP) 3 strikeouts, 1 walk.

LP: Evan Euler (6 IP) 2 strikeouts, 2 walks

North Hills (6-5, 1-3): Brian Wisniewski 2-1B, RBI; Andrew Heck 2B; Pat Castellano 1B, RBI; Mark Morris 1B, RBI; Geoff Lyons 2B

Butler (7-4, 4-1): Brandon Johnston 1B; AaronOrdy 2-1B; Adam Miller 1B, 2B, RBI; Andy Onufrak 3-1B, 2-RBI; Jim McCaslin 2-1B; Daren Blakley 2B, 2-RBI; Anthony Pinto 1B, 2-RBI; Chet Link 1B

Friday: Butler at Seneca Valley