North Coast was set up for the sweep — until Andrew DiNardo and Greg Desantis came along.

DiNardo tossed an unexpected complete game and Desantis belted a tiebreaking home run in the fifth inning Sunday night to give the Butler BlueSox a 3-2 win over the Knights and a split of their doubleheader at Pullman Park.

North Coast won the first game by an identical 3-2 score.

"I can't say enough about the game Andrew pitched tonight," BlueSox manager Jason Wuerfel said. "He was up against maybe the best starting pitcher in the Prospect League and he attacked every single hitter.

"We were short on pitching and we'd been using Andrew in relief lately, maybe two or three innings at a time. There was no way I could take him out tonight, not with the attitude he was showing on the mound."

DiNardo, a New Castle product pitching at Seton Hill University, threw 59 of his 81 pitches for strikes. He did not walk a batter.

His mound opponent, left-hander Rusty Shellhorn, entered the game with a 5-2 record and 1.36 earned run average. Shellhorn allowed only three hits.

"He has outstanding stuff," Wuerfel said. "But if you pitch well and play good defense like we did, all you need is that one big hit."

Desantis delivered it.

A late arrival to the BlueSox this season, Desantis began the twinbill batting .209 with six RBI in 15 games. He was 0-for-4 on the day before drilling a Shellhorn fastball over the 365-foot sign in left field with one out in the fifth, snapping a 2-2 deadlock.

"The count was 1-0, I was looking for a fastball and I got one," Desantis said. "I turned into the pitch and swung as hard as I could."

A line drive hitter at Long Island University, where he hit .277 with 17 stolen bases this past spring, Desantis has been working with Wuerfel on developing power.

"He's a big, powerful man. He just has to use his body more when he swings," Wuerfel said. "He did on that pitch."

Desantis began this summer with the Valley League in Virginia, but was released midway through the season.

"My coach made some calls and the BlueSox had some injuries, looking for some infielders," Desantis said. "We're a good fit for each other."

Shellhorn threw 99 pitches on the day, 36 coming in a troublesome third inning. Three walks and a hit batsman surrounded a run-scoring double by Zachary Noonan as the BlueSox nicked him for two runs.

"He (Shellhorn) was having trouble getting his breaking pitches over and we took advantage of some wildness that inning," Wuerfel said.

North Coast overcame a 2-0 deficit against Butler graduate Brian Warheit in the first game, scoring single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

Warheit entered the game with a 3-1 record and just 11 strikeouts in 45.2 innings. He fanned six in 5.1 innings Sunday, but was a hard-luck loser.

"They squared up one some pitches when I felt I was hitting my spots," Warheit said. "They had enough good at-bats against me to win the game."

Warheit threw 64 of his 97 pitches for strikes, but trailed 3-2 with runners on first and second and one out in the sixth when he departed.

Slippery Rock University southpaw Sean Holliday took over and retired the side without any damage.

Butler had a chance to tie the game in its final at bat. Brian Billigen doubled to left with one out and a Noonan ground ball moved him to third. That brought Brian Youchak — the league's leading hitter at .356 — to the plate.

Right-handed reliever Zac Bishop walked the left-handed hitter on four pitches — then struck out right-handed batter Jacke Healey on three pitches to end the game.

"We weren't trying to walk Youchak there," Knights manager Andy Jarvis said. "He was the go-ahead run. Zac just happened to throw four balls.

"He (Bishop) is much better against right-handed hitters, though. It didn't break my heart seeing Youchak trot down to first base."

The split keeps the BlueSox a game and a half behind idle Chillicothe in the East Division with 11 games remaining. Last-place Richmond is only three games out of first place.

Only the two division winners make the postseason.

"It's exciting playing meaningful games down the stretch," Wuerfel said. "Every team in the division is in that situation. It's fun for the fans and the players.

"It's all about starting pitching in this division. Every team has two or three stoppers in the rotation. No one's been able to run away from anybody."

Jarvis agreed.

"It's not that all of the teams in this division are new," he said. "All of the teams in this division are good. We've been beating each other up."

Notes: The BlueSox defeated North Coast 6-4 Saturday night before a season-high crowd 1,404 at Pullman Park. Tom Nagy worked six innings for the win while Ryan McChesney and Eric Hymel had three hits each. ... Dave McMillin, husband of the late Linda McMillin, and Kelly Edwards, daughter of the late Ralph Edwards, threw out ceremonial first pitches before the second game Sunday as part of East Butler Alumni Night. Nearly 150 East Butler alumni attended the game.

Game 1North Coast 001 110 0 — 3 9 1Butler BlueSox 020 000 0 — 2 7 0W: Jacob Helvey (5 IP) 3 K, 3 BB.

L: Brian Warheit (5Z\c IP) 6 K, 1 BB.

North Coast: Matt McAllester 2B, Evan Melendez 3B 2-1B 2-RBI, Adam Derner 2-1B, Robbie Monday 1B, River McWilliams 1B, Kevin Roundtree RBI, Rob Moir 1B

Butler: Brian Billigen 2B, Zach Noonan 1B RBI, Brian Youchak 1B, Sean Gusrang 1B, Frank Esposito 1B RBI, Eric Hymel 2-1B

Game 2North Coast 001 010 0 — 2 7 1Butler BlueSox 002 010 x — 3 3 0W: Andrew DiNardo (7 IP) 3 K, 0 BB.

L: Rusty Shellhorn (6 IP) 7 K, 3 BB.

North Coast (20-20): Evan Melendez 1B, Matt McAllester 1B RBI, Robbie Monday 1B, Doug Holmes 1B, Kirk Singer 3B, Rob Moir 2B 1B RBI

Butler (22-21): Zachary Noonan 2B RBI, Greg DeSantis HR, Ryan McChesney 2B

Today: Richmond at BlueSox, 6:35 p.m.