SLIPPERY ROCK — Lack of attendance and increased financial burden on ownership led to the demise of the Slippery Rock Sliders.

Team owners Mike and Laura Bencic officially sold the five-year-old Prospect League baseball franchise to interests in Springfield, Ohio, last week. The Sliders became the league’s first team to relocate.

“We’ve had teams sold, but stay in the same location, and we’ve had teams fold and join other leagues,” Prospect League Commissioner Dave Chase said. “But we’ve never had a situation like this.

“Laura and Mike were fantastic owners. They treated the players well and were great partners to other league members. And the ballpark there is fantastic.

“The financial situation simply became more than they could handle,” Chase added.

Mike Bencic said he was notified of a potential buyer for the team through the league office and the deal was consummated.

The Sliders averaged 266 fans per home game during their five years at Critchfield Park.

“If it wasn’t for the financial burden, we’d still be doing it,” Bencic said. “But the dollars we’re talking about are substantial — much more than the average person would realize.”

Bencic originally formed the Sliders to replace the Frontier League entrant of the same name that played at Critchfield Park in 2007.

“I remember people around town saying they wish they would have done more to get that team to stay,” Bencic recalled. “When we brought it back in 2009, we anticipated a lot more public support ... It just never materialized.

“The 280 to 300 people we’d draw a night just didn’t get it.”

He added that with another 200 people in the park each game, “we’d have been right there” in terms of being a solvent franchise.

“But we can’t have fireworks every night,” Bencic said.

Slippery Rock University athletic director Paul Lueken said the Sliders will be missed as tenants at Critchfield Park.

“Mike and Laura were tremendous people to work with. We were supportive of each other,” Lueken said.

The loss of the Sliders will cost SRU approximately $12,000 in revenue. That money had been placed toward athletic scholarships.

“Every dollar counts and we’re going to feel that,” Lueken said.

While Chase said the league would entertain the possibility of another team coming to Slippery Rock, he expressed concern about the viability of the market.

“When the university’s students are gone, is there enough people around to support the baseball team?,” he pondered. “And if the place was dark for a couple of years, the (Butler) BlueSox would have to OK a team going in there because it becomes part of their territory.

“No one has contacted our office about putting another team in Slippery Rock, but, yes, we would be open to the idea.”

Approximately seven Slider players have been drafted by major league clubs. The Bencics have traveled to see a few of them play.

They saw first baseman Fred Ford, drafted by Kansas City, play a minor league game in Bluefield, W.Va. They took former Sliders catcher Radley Haddad — now in the New York Yankees organization — out to dinner after watching him play in Tampa, Fla.

“Those players became like family to us, all of our players did,” Bencic said. “Working with the players, the ones who got it, who came here to play ball, was a joy.

“We also appreciate the people who were loyal to our team, who came out and supported the Sliders. We thank them.”

Bencic will remain involved with the Prospect League as he arranges buses and transportation for five or six of its teams.

“We’re grateful for the fans we had,” he said. “We’ve bumped into a few in the grocery store and they’ve asked, ‘What are we going to do now?’

“We feel badly for them.”