Either as a catcher or a hitter, not many baseballs get past Kevan Smith.

But in Thursday's Prospect League matchup against Lorain County (Ohio), it took a little while for the Seneca Valley graduate to see things clearly.

Smith's solo home run in the seventh inning broke a 3-all tie and sent the Butler BlueSox to a 4-3 victory over the Ironmen at Pullman Park.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Butler, which spotted Lorain County a 3-0 first-inning lead.

"I had trouble making the transition from sun to shade," said Smith, who also homered in the BlueSox's last win, the season opener last Thursday. "Once the sun went down, I started to see the ball better."

Reliever Kurt Roeder also stood out for the BlueSox, allowing one walk and one hit in five innings to pick up the win.

"Kurt is a total metaphor of what I've preached all season," said Butler manager Jason Wuerfel. "As a pitcher, you control the pace of the game. There are not a lot of situations in other games where one person controls the situation."

To prove his point, Wuerfel pointed to the ninth inning, when Roeder walked leadoff batter Stephen Hagen.

"We've had three blown saves this year. We could have gone, 'Here we go again' or 'Woe is us' or 'We're snake-bitten.'

"But Kurt took his time. He stepped off the mound, took a deep breath and slowed things down.

"Win, lose or draw, if we get the same sense of control from our pitchers, we'll have a terrific season," Wuerfel added.

After the walk, the Ironmen's Austin Ingraham flied out to center field on a running catch by Seneca Valley graduate Zach Duggan.

Lorain County's William Urban grounded into a fielder's choice, which moved courtesy runner Matt Toth to second base, but Roeder got Nick Hamilton to ground out to end the game.

"I felt really good out there," said Roeder. "I was getting ahead in the count and that's the most important thing: that first strike. That's huge for your confidence."

The Ironmen jumped out to the 3-0 lead when, with two outs and a runner at first, Matt McAllester stole second, then Butler starter Kenny Bechaud hit Hagen with a pitch.

Austin Ingraham smacked a two-run triple before Urban followed with an RBI single.

After loading the bases in the second inning without bringing a run home, Butler filled them again in the third before scoring twice.

Tyler Sciacca launched a sacrifice fly off Lorain County starter Kris Hall to drive in Jonathan Craycraft, then a fielder's choice brought in Smith to make it a 3-2 game.

Butler tied the score in the fourth, when, with one out, Austin Wulf doubled and Craycraft followed with an RBI double.

Roeder continued to keep the Ironmen in check during that stretch.

"He was painting the inside of the plate and hitting all his spots," said Smith. "When the pitcher hits his spots, I don't have to work."

Lorain County 300 000 000 — 3 4 2Butler 002 100 10x — 4 8 0W: Kurt Roeder 5 IP (2K, 1BB).

L: River McWilliams 3X\c IP (1K, 1BB).

Lorain (3-5): Stephen Hagen 2B; Austin Ingraham 3B, 2 RBI; William Urban 2-1B, RBI

Butler (2-4): Austin Wulf 2B; Jonathan Craycraft 1B, 2B, RBI; Kevan Smith HR; Tyler Sciacca 1B, RBI; Colby Roberts 1B; Max Vogel 2-1B