SLIPPERY ROCK — The job description: Start a business from scratch with no guarantee of success while completing 18 months of preparatory work in 5½.

Steve Tahsler couldn't pass up that challenge.

It's the position he accepted in leaving the Evansville (Ind.) Otters to become general manager of the Slippery Rock Sliders.

Slippery Rock is the location of Tahsler's third stint as a Frontier League general manager. He was GM of the Dubois County Dragons for two years before running the Evansville franchise the past four seasons.

"The league asked me to take it on," he said of forming the Sliders franchise. "I was flattered by that and intrigued by the challenge."

Johnstown and Lorain, Ohio, were among other towns bidding to house this expansion franchise that is owned by the Frontier League itself.

Tahsler came to Slippery Rock last October to look at the community's viability as a franchise host.

"The facility (Critchfield Park) was a little small by general league standards, but was still serviceable," he said. "And because it's a fairly new ballpark, the press box has the technology we need.

"The biggest question was whether we could get Butler, New Castle, Franklin, Grove City, etc., together to support this team. Since Pullman Park has been vying for a team for four years or so, we knew our league was somewhat known in Butler."

Once Slippery Rock was awarded the franchise, Tahsler's world got busy.

"It's been non-stop," he said. "First. we had to formally start a business, get a federal ID number, open bank accounts and insurance policies.

"The expansion draft and tryout camps gave us a foundation for a team."

So did Slippery Rock University itself, particularly SRU coach Jeff Messer and first-year assistant Rich Pasquale, formerly the head coach at LaRoche College.

Messer is the Sliders' director of baseball operations, while Pasquale serves as the team's facility manager and will oversee the daily operation of Critchfield Park.

Messer was given a $35,000 budget to acquire the equipment — batting cage, bats, helmets, baseballs, catching equipment, etc. — necessary to begin a professional baseball franchise.

"It was an experience," Messer said. "I got most of it done during the four-week Christmas break between school sessions. It was like taking on a second full-time job, but I learned a lot."

Messer attended an ABC Collegiate Conference in Orlando, Fla., which had more than 1,000 baseball equipment vendors on site.

He contacted 50 different bat companies before settling on BWP Maple Bats of Brookville, where 2006 American League MVP Justin Morneau and notable big league hitters Vladimir Guerro, Jason Giambi, Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon get their bats.

"Mike Gregory is a Slippery Rock graduate who runs that company, and he gave us $12,000 worth of bats — 150 bats — for $6,000. And he delivered them," Messer said.

Messer also contacted various businesses and ordered 200 dozen baseballs for this season, along with socks, caps and uniforms.

He established the Butler Days Inn as the host lodging for visiting teams and the Fairfield Inn in Butler for the umpires.

"It's not a league requirement, but it's preferred that players and umpires don't stay in the same place," Messer said.

Messer also lined up bus transportation for the Sliders. With only 32 of the ball club's 96 games at home, the team will log 15,000 miles in a three-month period.

The culmination of all these efforts is when the umpire points to the pitcher and the first pitch of the Sliders' home season is delivered Tuesday night.

"Until then, we're still making sure everything is in working order," Tahsler said. "We'll do a mock walk-through of a game with our employees beforehand, but until there's real people in the stands and a real game on the field, you're not done preparing."