Dan Lynch

CRANBERRY TWP — Despite Butler Township being the bottom seed in this year's Eagle County League baseball playoffs, Bill Clinefelter knows not to take the team lightly.

“They find a way to keep it close,” Cranberry Township's player/manager said before Monday's first-round playoff. “They can jump up and bite you.”

Through four-and-a-half innings, Butler Township had Clinefelter feeling a bit nervous as the game was knotted at 2-all.

That's when Cranberry pulled away, scoring six runs over the next two innings in an 8-2 win at North Boundary Park's Veterans Field.

Game 2 of the best-of-3 series is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at Butler County Community College.

“This is huge. Winning the first game puts you in position to move forward,” said Clinefelter, who was without three starters, two due to injury. “I got nervous there for a while, but at the end of the day, we're walking out of here with a win and that's good.”

Cranberry made Butler starter Jeremy Moorhead pay for his two walks in the sixth. Dan Lynch singled in Cory Wheeler and Lynch ended up scoring on a throwing error for a 6-4 lead.

Brandon Pouch, Wheeler and Nash Matson each singled to begin the sixth and two more errors helped fuel a 4-run frame for Cranberry.

Moorhead took the loss, striking out five and walking five in six innings.

“If we make a few of those plays behind him, it would've been a different ball game,” said Butler manager Jeff Cupp. “We're usually decent in the field.”

Lynch and Pouch both had three singles, with the former adding two runs scored and two RBI. In all, Cranberry tallied 13 hits.

“We hadn't been doing much hitting lately,” admitted Clinefelter. “We needed a bust-out game like this.”

Butler had tied the score in the top of the fifth when Ramello Brown scored on Dom Pasquale's groundout and Kendrick Payno singled home Joe Demeis.

That was the only damage Cranberry starter Matt Gayda allowed. He allowed a pair of singles to Zach Zeppuhar and Bob Geibel, but stranded both.

Gayda finished the game with nine strikeouts and three walks in a complete game.

“He pitched really well,” said Clinefelter. “It was nice that we were able to ride him and not have to dive into our bullpen.”

Butler Twp. 000 020 0 — 2 7 4

Cranberry Twp. 002 024 x — 8 13 2

W: Matt Gayda 7 IP (9K, 3BB). L: Jeremy Moorhead 6 IP (5K, 5BB).

Butler Twp.: Kendrick Payno 2-1B RBI, Ramello Brown 1B R

Cranberry Twp.: Brandon Pouch 3-1B R, Cory Wheeler 2-1B 2R RBI, Dan Lynch 3-1B 2R 2RBI, Chance Nagy 2-1B R

Tuesday: Cranberry Township at Butler Township, Game 2 at Butler County Community College, 6 p.m.