Jason Curry, a graduate of Slippery Rock High and Slippery Rock University, feels privileged to be home again.

The 26-year-old outfielder is wearing the No. 8 in Green and White again — this time as a member of the Slippery Rock Sliders.

Curry is batting fourth and playing right field for the Frontier League expansion team as it prepares for its home opener at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday against the Florence (Ky.) Freedom.

He is also the only Butler County player on the club's 24-man roster.

"I don't know if I'd say I'm feeling any added pressure. ... There will be a lot of people I know in the stands coming to see me play," Curry said. "I don't worry about what they expect. I expect to perform for them.

"I've always believed in myself, that I can play at this level."

Since graduating from SRU, Curry has tried out for the Washington Wild Things, the Frontier League in general, the Cincinnati Reds, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates.

While being turned away by all of those organizations, he's never stopped working on his game.

It took Sliders manager Greg Jelks only one game to see that.

Curry had a home run, a double, a single and four RBI in the Sliders' first preseason game, a 6-4 loss at Washington.

"I didn't play him anymore after that," Jelks said. "He showed me he can play at this level and I didn't want anybody else to see what we had in him."

Curry is one of few sources of power in the Sliders' lineup, which sports an attack geared for speed.

"We're going to hit-and-run, steal bases, run the bases well and manufacture runs every chance we can," Jelks said. "Everybody in this lineup can steal a base.

"Stealing isn't all about speed. It's about getting a good jump, reading the pitcher and knowing when to go. We've been spending a lot of time on that."

The Sliders' roster sports players from 16 states, including infielder Cy Donald from Hawaii.

Left-hander Zac Cline, a teammate of Sliders pitching coach Adam Shafer in the Philadelphia Phillies' organization last year, will start Slippery Rock's home opener on the mound.

Also in the starting rotation are right-handers Caleb McConnell, Alex McEnaney and Nick Tracy, and left-hander Billye Hollister.

McConnell was selected in the Frontier League expansion draft over the winter and McEnaney is the son of Will McEnaney, a relief pitcher on the Cincinnati Reds' world championship teams of 1975-76.

Tracy was signed out of a local tryout camp held at Critchfield Park in early April.

"You always find players in those tryout camps," Jelks said. "There's plenty of talent out there that we just don't know about.

"What's surprising is we kept no one from the leaguewide tryout camp this year. Usually, every team finds two or three players from there, but the talent pool was low this time."

Travis Chapman, 26, a fifth-round draft pick of the Pirates six years ago, is the Sliders' starting catcher. He spent four years in the Pirates' system, getting as far as Class A Lynchburg, before spending a year in the Oakland A's farm system.

"I got released after the 2005 season and didn't play anywhere last year," Chapman said. "I decided to play again this year and the (Frontier League's) River City Rascals signed me, then traded me here.

"My goal is to get back to an affiliated league. That's everyone's goal here. Like manager Jelks says, if your goal isn't to hook on with a major league organization, you're wasting your time here."

Leadoff hitter and left fielder Jarrod Klausman recently was acquired in a trade with the Wild Things.

"He's a good speed guy who can get on base, steal and disrupt things," Jelks said. "It's just what we need at the top of the lineup. When we heard Washington was going to release him, we worked out a deal and got him.

"We have a lot of talent here. The only thing our team has that other teams in our division don't have is inexperience. Washington, Chillicothe and Florence return 80 percent of their players from last year."

Klausman was a member of NCAA Division III World Series champion Marietta (Ohio) College last year. Fellow outfielder Casey Bowling played for West Virginia University and led the Big East with a .403 batting average.

"The only difference between independent minor league players and affiliated minor league players is consistency," Chapman said. "If we can avoid prolonged slumps, we'll be OK."