MARS - The good, the bad and the ugly.

Mars II experienced all three Monday evening.

Unfortunately for the Eagle County League baseball team, the "ugly" lasted four innings.

Mars II scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 3-1 lead on Saxonburg. That was the good news.

The bad news was that Saxonburg retaliated with three runs of its own in the next half inning to retake the lead at 4-3.

Over the course of the next four innings, Mars II's misfortune snowballed in the form of eight walks, 10 hits and 13 runs surrendered by its pitchers.

When the dust settled, Saxonburg had cruised to a 17-5, six-inning victory and leads the best-of-five semifinal series 2-0.

Game 3 is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at Highfield Park.

"(Saxonburg) is capable of coming out and doing that against any team and any pitcher in this league," said Mars II coach Scott Shankel. "Up until this game, we were able to keep our playoff games low-scoring. That didn't happen tonight."

Brian Hart, who worked the first three frames for Mars II, shouldered the loss after surrendering 10 runs on eight hits and four walks.

In all, Mars II's pitchers, which also included Ryan Leonberg and Mike Skurko, walked 11 batters.

The hurlers also fell victim to three errors behind them.

Saxonburg starter Nate Buttenfield was handed a 1-0 lead as he took the mound in the bottom of the first frame.

But Mars II's Adam Schmidhammer and Hart greeted the right-hander with back-to-back singles to open the inning before both scored on Randy Sheetz's double to right field.

Matt Rovnan added another run on a throwing error and the home team was up 3-1.

"It stirred up the bees nest, that's all it did," said Saxonburg coach Dan Cunningham . "Our guys came right back at them."

Saxonburg's six-run third inning was highlighted by Brendan Malone's grand slam home run over the right-field fence, scoring Tim Nebel, Steve Hall and Sandy Sanderson in front of him.

Meanwhile, Buttenfield settled down, giving up just one run on three hits from the second inning through the fifth.

"He was a bit shaky at the start there, but after that he was focused and wanted nothing less than a win," said Cunningham.

Saxonburg 136 025 x -17 13 2Mars II 301 001 x - 5 9 3WP: Nate Buttenfield (6 IP) 8 strikeouts, 2 walks.

LP: Brian Hart (3 IP) 0 strikeouts, 4 walks

Saxonburg (25-6): Brendan Malone 1B GSHR 3R 5RBI, Justin Woodrow 1B 2B 3R 2RBI, Chase Rowe 2B HR 2R 2RBI, Steve Hall 2-1B R RBI, Sandy Sanderson 2-1B 3R.

Mars II (12-20): Adam Schmidhammer 1B 2R SB, Matt Rovnan 2-1B 2R RBI, Randy Sheetz 1B 2B 2RBI, Mike Skurko 2-1B RBI

Today: Mars II vs. Saxonburg, Game 3 at Highfield Park, 6 p.m.