ERIE — East Butler refuses to go away.

The Butler County entry in the Region 8 American Legion Baseball Tournament staved off elimination for the third straight day Tuesday, defeating Venango 4-3 at Ainsworth Stadium.

Nick Rossmiller was the winning pitcher, tossing the final six innings in relief of starter Greg Hays.

Hays allowed only two hits while pitching three scoreless frames to start the game, but he ran out of eligible innings.

"I thought he had more innings available going into this game," East Butler manager Carl Hays said. "I misinterpreted how the rule works."

Pitchers are permitted to work 12 innings in three days, beginning with the first day they throw. Greg Hays pitched nine innings Sunday, did not throw Monday and tossed the three frames Tuesday.

Hays now gets a fresh 12 innings and was scheduled to be East Butler's starting pitcher at 11 a.m. today against the winner of Erie Millcreek-Erie Hamot.

Hamot is unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament. East Butler would have to defeat Hamot twice today to win the region title. If Millcreek defeats Hamot, the winner of the Millcreek-East Butler game would play Hamot in a one-game region final.

"These last three games, we've allowed three, one and three runs," manager Hays said. "In nine-inning games against this level of competition, that's shutdown baseball."

Rossmiller is not eligible to pitch today. Besides his son, manager Hays has Evan Oswald (seven innings) and Zach Harbison (12 innings) available to pitch today, if needed.

East Butler's first hit Tuesday was a solo home run by Dalton Steighner leading off the fourth inning. East Butler added a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Josh Reddick.

Venango scored three times in the sixth to take the lead.

"That was Nick's only bad inning," Hays said. "There was an error, a walk. ... The crowd got into it and he got rattled a little bit."

East Butler took the lead for good in the seventh when Adam Bresnahan and Nathan Neff walked, and Reddick's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners a base. Steighner delivered with a two-run single.

East Butler improved to 24-3 overall. The team is competing in the region tournament with 12 players.

"What these kids are doing up here — it's pretty special," Hays said.

East Butler 000 110 200 — 4 6 1Venango 000 003 000 — 3 8 1W: Nick Rossmiller (6 IP) 3 K, 6 BB.

L: Marian (4 IP) 3 K, 2 BB.

East Butler (24-3): Dalton Steighner HR 1B 3-RBI, Josh Reddick 1B RBI, Ryan Fennell 1B, Nick Rossmiller 1B, Nathan Neff 1B

Venango: Farley 1B 2B

Today: East Butler vs. Erie Millcreek-Erie Hamot winner