A Butler man struck out in his attempt to score with stolen Pittsburgh Pirates tickets.

The suspect, 34-year-old Larry J. Hoffman, now finds himself in a rundown with the law.

City police said Hoffman last month walked into a downtown store and sold clerk Brad Cowen a pair of season tickets for $120.

But Cowen learned that he had been thrown a curve ball after, in turn, he sold two individual tickets on eBay.

When the eBay customer went to the game, which was the Bucs home opener March 31, he was told at the gate that the tickets were invalid, according to a police report.

The customer called Cowen, who returned the money he received for those tickets. Cowen then notified police and provided a copy of the receipt from his transaction with Hoffman.

Later, police were contacted by another city resident, who lives two blocks away from Hoffman.

That man said that he had ordered the same tickets — and paid $928 — that Hoffman had sold to Cowen.

But the man told police that when he never received the tickets in the mail, he notified the Pirates office, which invalidated the tickets and sent him new ones, the report said.

Police said they called Hoffman, who agreed to come to the station to speak with officers. He told them he would be there at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

However, he was a no-show. Police said they waited until Thursday evening before charging Hoffman with theft by deception and receiving stolen property.