SLIPPERY ROCK - Minus some of its top pitchers, the Eagle County Baseball League all-stars had to make due.

They made due very nicely, but couldn't pull one out in a 4-3 loss to the Federation League all-stars at Critchfield Park Sunday afternoon.

Six pitchers combined to scattered just five hits for the Eagle County team, but two errors led to two unearned runs in the loss.

"We didn't have any of our top pitching," said Saxonburg coach and Eagle County manager Dan Cunningham. "Four of our pitchers couldn't make it today."

But the pitching Cunningham did have did a serviceable job.

Starter Eric Nachreiner from Freeport pitched two hitless innings and Chad Gorley pitched a hitless third frame before running into trouble in the fourth when the Federation League scored twice to tie the score at 2.

Eagle County stormed out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a two-run single by Chase Rowe - one of five Saxonburg players in the starting lineup.

"The Saxonburg boys did a pretty good job today," Cunningham said.

Brendan Malone, one of the Saxonburg boys, had three singles for Eagle County and two other Saxonburg players - Jason Curry, a Slippery Rock High School graduate, and Steve Hall - collected doubles.

Eagle County claimed a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth as Curry scored on a Gorley single.

But the Federation League knotted the game again in the sixth inning on a RBI single by Dustin Walter and went ahead for good with a run in the top of the seventh inning as Rob Burns led off with a double and scored on an error.

Rob Jewett picked up the win for the Federation League with two scoreless innings. Jeremy Fitzgerald pitched a perfect ninth inning for the save.

Chris Kemp picked up the loss, giving up an unearned run in his inning of work.

The game was crisply played as the teams took just 2 hours, 15 minutes to play nine innings.

Cunningham hopes to make the Eagle County versus Federation League all-star game a yearly event.

The Federation League runs much like the Eagle County League as teams are made up mostly of former college and minor league baseball players.

The Eagle County all-star team was originally going to play an all-star team from Akron, but that fell through.

That opened the door for the Federation League-Eagle County match-up.

"The guys had a lot of fun," Cunningham said. "They have a field they are working on up in Brookville, so we may play up there next year. If not, and if we can get (Critchfield Park) next year, we'll play them here. We'll get them next time."

Federation 000 201 100 - 4 5 0

Eagle County 200 100 000 - 3 9 2

WP:

Rob Jewett (2 IP) 1 strikeout, 0 walks.

LP:

Chris Kemp (1 IP) 0 strikeouts, 0 walks

Federation:

Pete Meterko 1B; Tom Hibbert 1B, RBI; Rob Burns 2B; Dave Klepfer 1B

Eagle County:

Brendan Malone 3-1B; Chase Rowe 1B, 2-RBI; Jason Curry 2B; Chad Gorely 1B, RBI; Chris Turka 2-1B; Steve Hall 2B