BUTLER TWP — Two cracks of the bat.

The first gave Butler Township the lead. The second sent everybody home.

Bryan Presco drilled a grand slam down the right field line with none out in the bottom of the first inning. The left-handed swinger opened the bottom of the fifth with a towering homer to center, sealing BT's 11-1 win over West Sunbury in a first-round Butler County Area Baseball League tournament game Tuesday night at Highfield Park.

“They were throwing fastballs down the middle most of the game,” Presco said of his second home run. “I was sitting on a fastball in that location and I got one.”

The game-ending blast came on the first pitch of the inning.

Presco's grand slam appeared to sail foul as it cleared the fence. The umpires conferred briefly and ruled a home run.

“I don't know about that one,” West Sunbury coach Matt Williams said. “That (grand slam) deflated us a bit. But that's baseball. Calls will go against you.

“We didn't respond to that very well.”

Presco had five RBI and scored three runs on the night. He had two home runs this summer prior to his power surge Tuesday.

“Those guys (West Sunbury) are unpredictable,” Presco said. “We've struggled against them this year. We needed to jump out to a big lead early.”

No. 2 seed Butler Township added a fifth run in the first when Josh Bonetti drew a bases-loaded walk. Bonetti had two singles and three RBI in the game.

John Piroch took care of things on the mound for BT. He pitched all five innings, throwing only 44 pitches in the first four frames.

Butler Township was missing its top two pitchers as Josh Grigoletti has a shoulder injury and Colby Anderson played for the Butler BlueSox Tuesday.

“John knows how to pitch,” BT manager Tyler Friel said. “He attacks the zone and is efficient out there. He struggled in that last inning, but got out of it.

“We needed him to go out there and give us innings. That's what he's been doing for us for two or three years now.”

Piroch threw 30 pitches in the fifth frame — walking two and hitting a batter to load the bases — but induced Gage Neal to ground into a force play to end the inning.

Mason Mershimer's run-scoring double in the third produced West Sunbury's lone run. Nate Tack singled in the same inning, the only two hits allowed by Piroch.

West Sunbury stranded two runners in scoring position in that third inning.

“We didn't get the clutch hits tonight,” Williams said. “We were making contact, but hit a lot of balls righ at people.”

Remy Pardo and Braden Marcellus scored two runs each for BT, which had 10 hits in the contest and played errorless baseball.

“We pitched well, hit well, looked good in the field,” Friel said. “We checked all the boxes tonight.”

Butler Township is the defending league champion. Both teams return to action Thursday.

West Sunbury 001 00x x — 1 2 3

Buler Twp. 521 21x x — 11 10 0

W: John Piroch 5IP (4K, 3BB). L: Dean Hershey 2IP (2K, 3BB).

West Sunbury (4-10): Nate Tack 1B, Mason Mershimer 2B RBI

Butler Township (11-2-1): Josh Bonetti 2-1B 3-RBI, John Piroch 1B, Remy Pardo 1B 2-R, Bryan Presco 2-HR 5-RBI 3-R, Zack Slomers RBI, Braden Marcellus 2-1B 2-R RBI, Bayden Davenport 1B, Mattix Clement 1B RBI

Thursday: West Sunbury vs. Karns City, Butler Township vs. Pine Richland