SLIPPERY ROCK — The table was set. But Slippery Rock went home hungry.

Trailing by a run in a District 10 Class AAA baseball semifinal Monday night at Critchfield Park, the Rockets loaded the bases with no one out in the seventh inning.

Collin Hyatt drew a walk. Kyle Benson and Ryan Lauster reached on consecutive bunt singles — Benson’s down the first base line, Lauster’s down the third base line.

“They were picture-perfect bunts. We couldn’t do a thing with either ball,” Fort LeBoeuf coach Jeff Nichols admitted.

But Bisons pitcher Josh Greggs struck out the side from there — fanning Dylan Dingel, Danny Williams and Zach Van Dyke — to preserve a 7-6 victory.

“We didn’t go up to the plate very confident there,” Slippery Rock coach Nate McCullough said. “Sometimes, at a key moment on a big stage like that, a kid looks to make the perfect swing. All we needed was to get the bat on the ball.

“We went up there looking to draw a walk more than put the ball in play.”

The final out of the game was a called third strike on a 3-2 pitch. Greggs, the third Fort LeBoeuf pitcher of the contest, fanned four in 1.1 innings pitched to get the win.

“Our plan was to have him on the mound at the end,” Nichols said. “That last pitch? I never had any doubt. Josh has come up big for us all year.”

McCollough inserted his ace, Gunner Becker, on the mound for the bottom of the sixth after the Rockets (16-6) completed a comeback from an early 6-0 deficit by scoring three times in the top of the inning.

Becker replaced Jackson Kerchis, who threw three scoreless frames at the Bisons with only 26 pitches.

“Jackson did a tremendous job shutting the door and giving us a chance to win,” McCollough said. “It was a very tough decision to pull him.

“But I decided before this game that if we were within a run late, I wanted my ace on the mound with the chance to get to the championship game.

The Bison got to Becker for the go-ahead tally. Zack Young walked to start the inning,was bunted to second and scored on Tyler Miller’s double down the right field line.

Fort LeBoeuf (14-3) opened up a 6-0 lead in the first two innings against Slippery Rock starter Dingel. Ken Youngberg and Drew Rose had RBI singles in the first inning and Greggs’ two-run double to deep left highlighted a four-run second.

But the Rockets battled back. Benson’s RBI single and Dingel getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded polished off a three-run third. Van Dyke had a run-scoring single in the sixth and a two-out, two-run throwing error by shortstop Greggs tied the game.

“I’m not surprised our guys came back. They’ve been a scrappy bunch all year,” McCollough said.

The Rockets stranded 13 runners in the game, leaving the bases loaded three times. In both of its three-run innings, Slippery Rock left the bases full.

“Baseball will humble you,” McCollough said. “Like it or not, our guys will remember this game for the rest of their lives. And they will learn life lessons from it.

“That’s why baseball is such a great game.”

Slippery Rock batters reached base on five walks, three hit batsmen, two catcher’s interference and an error to go with seven hits.

“As a coach, that gets hard to watch sometimes,” Nichols said. “You feel like grabbing a glove and bat and go out and play the game yourself.

“It’s easy to forget these are 15, 16 and 17-year-olds kids out there.”

Slippery Rock says goodbye to six seniors: Kerchis, Josh Bowser, Hyatt, Alex Stover, Cody Lawniczak and Lauster. They reached the District 10 playoffs all four years, won a district title and played in two D-10 championship games.

“It will be hard to match what that senior class has done,” McCollough said. “But all of our pitching is coming back next year. The future looks good for Slippery Rock baseball.”

Slippery Rock 000 303 0 — 6 7 0

Fort LeBoeuf 240 001 x — 7 9 4

W: Josh Greggs 1.1IP (4K, 1BB). L: Gunner Becker 1IP (0K, 1BB).

Slippery Rock (16-6): Ryan Lauster 1B, Dylan Dingel 1B RBI, Zach Van Dyke 1B RBI, Gunner Becker 1B, Josh Bowser 1B, Cody Lawniczak RBI, Kyle Benson 2-1B RBI

Fort LeBoeuf (14-3): Tyler Miller 2-1B 2B RBI, Jesse Weaver 2-1B 2-R RBI, Josh Greggs 2-2B 2-R 2-RBI, Ken Youngberg 1B 2-RBI, Drew Rose 1B RBI, Zack Young 2-R

Thursday: District 10 Class AAA Championship: Fort LeBoeuf vs. Cathedral Prep