WASHINGTON, Pa. — If Slippery Rock Sliders pitcher Caleb McConnell was nervous Wednesday night, he didn't show it.

However, the Sliders hitters and fielders did show their nerves as they failed to put the ball in play during five at-bats with a runner at third and less than two outs and committed four errors in dropping their Frontier League debut to the Washington Wild Things, 4-1, at CONSOL Energy Park.

McConnell pitched the first five innings for Slippery Rock, struck out seven and allowed only three hits — but he took the loss. McConnell threw 74 pitches, 46 for strikes.

"That was a shame," Sliders manager Greg Jelks said. "He was outstanding. I don't know what else to say about him."

The game was scoreless until the Washington fifth inning, when Nathan Messner's leadoff grounder to shortstop was bobbled by Jon Hickey. With one out, Robbie Knapp hit a grounder that got through third baseman Cy Donald before Kyle Padgett blooped a broken-bat single to center to load the bases.

No. 9 hitter Kyle Werman singled to right, plating the first two runs of the game.

"Our hitters weren't that bad tonight. Their pitcher was that good," Wild Things manager John Massarelli said. "He had command of everything, and his fastball and breaking stuff were down in the zone all night."

The Sliders missed three chances to plate runners in scoring position.

Slippery Rock High and Slippery Rock University graduate Jason Curry singled to left to begin the second inning. Jason Von Behren reached when the pitcher fielded his ground ball and threw wildly to second. Donald moved the runners with a sacrifice, but Wild Things pitcher Aaron Ledbetter struck out Bryan Vickers and Travis Chapman to end the inning.

In the Sliders' sixth, Jarrod Klausman, Steve Hudson and Nate Yoho loaded the bases on singles with nobody out. Curry worked the count full against Ledbetter and endured a 12-pitch at-bat before striking out.

Von Behren then struck out on three pitches before Donald bounced out to the mound.

"The pitch was down and in," Curry said of the pitch he finally swung and missed on. "I felt comfortable at the plate all night. It just didn't work out."

Ledbetter pitched the first six innings for Washington, throwing 64 of his 84 pitches for strikes. He picked up his 29th career Frontier League victory, tying the league record.

"Aaron came up big when he had to," Massarelli said. "In that sixth inning, they were a fly ball and a ground ball away from tying the game. Aaron prevented that from happening."

The Sliders finally broke through in the eighth inning. Klausman reached on an infield error, was bunted to second and scored the team's first run in its history when Yoho tripled over the center fielder's head.

With the tying run at third, however, Ian Heisel struck out Curry and Von Behren flied out to right.

"Being part of history like that was kinda cool," said Yoho, nephew of Butler County judge Tim McCune. "But I'd rather have done it in a win."

The Wild Things scored twice in their half of the eighth, using two walks, a double, single and throwing error by catcher Chapman to get the tallies.

"Yeah, we were nervous tonight," Jelks said. "I've got 16 or 17 rookies on this team and they were gonna be nervous.

"We deserved to win this game. If we just put the ball in play at critical times, we would have won. Once we settle down and play some ball, I think we've got a good team here."

Notes: The Wild Things had a franchise opening day record crowd of 3,556. ... Slider hitters struck out 10 times and did not walk once. ... Reserved seats for the Sliders' home opener Tuesday are sold out. About 500 general admission tickets remain, and standing room will be sold if necessary.

Slippery Rock 000 000 010—1 6 4Washington 000 020 02x—4 5 2Caleb McConnell (L, 7 K, 1 BB), Derek Duclos (6, 3 K, 1 BB), Justin Robinson (8, 1 K, 1 BB) and Travis Chapman; Aaron Ledbetter (W, 6 K, 0 BB), Ian Heisel (7, 2 K, 0 BB), Gus Hlebovy (9, SV, 2 K, 0 BB) and Pat O'Brien.

Slippery Rock (0-1): Jarrod Klausman 1B, Steve Hudson 2-1B, Nate Yoho 1B 3B RBI, Jason Curry 1B

Washington (1-0): Matt Sutton 2B, Jarod Rine 2-1B RBI 2-SB, Kyle Padgett 1B, Kyle Werman 1B 2-RBI

Today: Slippery Rock at Washington, 7:05 p.m.

Here are some firsts in the history of the Slippery Rock Sliders, the Frontier League expansion team that debuted with a 4-1 loss at Washington Wednesday night:• <B>First pitcher: </B>Caleb McConnell• <B>First batter: </B>Jarrod Klausman• <B>First hit: </B>Jason Curry, single in second inning• <B>First extra-base hit: </B>Nate Yoho, triple in eighth inning• <B>First run: </B>Jarrod Klausman• <B>First RBI: </B>Nate Yoho