Butler's Slepski unhittable

By John EnriettoEagle Sports Editor

WEXFORD — Rust was Butler baseball coach Todd Erdos' biggest concern Friday night.
Rest proved to be his team's biggest ally.
Tyler Slepski tossed a no-hitter and the Golden Tornado collected 12 hits in a 10-0 five-inning victory over Penn-Trafford in a first-round WPIAL Class AAA playoff game at North Allegheny.
The game was Butler's first in nine days.
“You always worry about that,” Erdos said of the layoff. “Tyler hadn't pitched in over a week. When a baseball team hasn't played in this long, it may take a while to shake off the rust.”
Slepski put his coach's mind at ease fairly quickly.
The senior left-hander allowed only three baserunners. One of those — Drew Bruno in the first inning — got on after the third strike eluded catcher Tom Bruce.
Nick DeFilippo walked and stole second to begin the Warriors' second frame, but Slepski struck out the next three hitters. Tyler Maghery was hit by a pitch with one out in the fifth.
Butler's bats made sure Slepski didn't need to take the mound again, banging out seven hits and scoring six times in the bottom of the fifth to win via the mercy rule.
“The way we hit the ball and play defense, all I worry about is throwing strikes,” Slepski said. “The umpire had a nice strike zone, I was keeping the ball down and was getting the low strike.
“Keep the ball down, no one can hurt you.”
Slepski proved painful to the Penn-Trafford bats, striking out nine and throwing only 84 pitches, 50 for strikes.
Penn-Trafford entered the game with a .325 team batting average while averaging seven runs per game. The Warriors had been shut out only once all season.
“That kid just handled us,” Penn-Trafford coach Ron Evans said. “He was delivering the ball across and in and we didn't get good swings against him.”
The Warriors had not played a night game all season.
“That wasn't a factor,” Evans insisted. “Maybe mentally, we let it bother us a little bit. It shouldn't have.
“Their kid just pitched a great game. We only saw one other left-hander all year.”
Slepski said he threw 70 percent fastballs.
“I was getting my curve over and that was throwing their timing off,” he said.
“Tyler spotted everything well. He was in control out there,” Erdos said.
Slepski had never pitched a no-hitter at any level of baseball. He was in the middle of the offensive onslaught as well, producing two doubles, a single and three RBI.
Every player in Butler's lineup had at least one hit.
David Tompkins and Nate Bresnahan scored two runs each. Bobby Swartwout had a run-scoring double off the right field fence. Cody Herald had a double, single and two RBI.
Herald's two-out, two-run single to left with the bases loaded ended the game in the fifth.
“We were still in this game through four and a half,” Evans said. “Butler was hitting the ball hard all night, though. Those balls started falling in.”
The Tornado take on Hempfield Monday afternoon at La Roche College in the second round.
“This was a perfect start for us,” Erdos said. “We played well in all phases. Hopefully, that momentum carries over to Monday.”

Penn-Trafford 000 00x x — 0 0 1
Butler 022 06x x — 10 12 0
W: Tyler Slepski 5IP (9K, 1BB). L: Russ Orgera 3IP (2K, 4BB).
Penn-Trafford (9-9): No hits
Butler (13-4): Mick Fennell 1B, Colin Williamson 1B RBI, Cody Herald 2B 1B 2-RBI, Bobby Swartwout 2B RBI, David Tompkins 1B RBI 2-R, Tyler Slepski 2-2B 1B 3-RBI, Nate Bresnahan 1B 2-R, Tom Bruce 2B, Alex Ziegler 1B 2-RBI