SLIPPERY ROCK — In Monday's high school baseball game against Slippery Rock, Grove City was error-free in six of seven innings.

The Rockets made the rival Eagles pay for the one inning in which they slipped up.

Two costly miscues in the bottom of the third inning led to four unearned runs as host Slippery Rock posted a 6-1 region victory.

“That's baseball,” said Rockets' coach Fred Pryor. “One team makes a mistake, you have to make it hurt. We have a lot of speed, so when teams make errors, we usually make them pay for it.”

In a battle of southpaws — Grove City's Carter Chinn and Slippery Rock's Ian Balquist — the game was scoreless as the Rockets picked up their bats in their half of the third.

A leadoff walk was followed by a fielding error on a fly ball hit by Balquist. With one out, David Duffalo singled to drive home Mason Hildebrand.

A throwing error allowed Balquist to score. Before Chinn got out of the inning, David and Alex Duffalo had both come home on wild pitches.

Grove City (4-8, 2-1) had been playing much better defense since an 0-5 start to the season.

“We walk their No. 9 hitter, then had a miscommunication in the outfield and another error after that,” said Grove City coach Billy Herman. “That was enough to get them going.

“We tried to get out of here today without making the big mistake, but weren't able to do it.”

The four-run lead was more than enough for Slippery Rock's pitching duo, which included reliever Zach Caldwell.

Balquist struck out eight and walked three and had to leave the game two batters into the fifth frame after reaching 100 pitches. He improved to 5-0 on the season after allowing one unearned run in the fourth when Chinn singled in John Hake following an error.

It was one of four errors committed in the game by the Rockets (8-3, 3-0), who have struggled at times defensively this season.

“We have to clean that up,” said Pryor. “We know we have to get better. Our pitching has been keeping us in games.”

Two more errors came with Caldwell on the mound, including one that helped the Eagles load the bases with Slippery Rock leading 6-1 in the top of the seventh, but the junior closed the door with no damage.

“Zach's come a long way,” said Pryor. “He and Ian are both juniors, so we're looking forward to having them for another year.

“Ian struggled with his change-up today, but his fastball moves, it wiggles a bit. We get 100 percent out of him every day.”

The Eagles were limited to just four hits, but due in large part to the Rocket errors, Grove City had a host of base runners and stranded 11.

“(Balquist) is a good lefty,” said Herman. “We haven't seen many lefties and he kept us off-balance.

“Our two-out hitting has been hot and cold this season. Today, we just couldn't get the big one.”

Slippery Rock added a run off of Chinn in the bottom of the fourth when Hildebrand scored on Alex Duffalo's infield single. Grove City reliever Mason Jones threw a wild pitch in the sixth that allowed Balquist to score the Rockets' final run.

The win puts Slippery Rock alone in first place in the Region 6 standings.

“This was between two first-place teams,” said Herman. “It's a missed opportunity, but we get a second crack at them (May 8).”

Grove City 000 100 0 — 1 4 2

Slippery Rock 004 101 x — 6 7 4

W: Ian Balquist 4.1 IP (8K, 3BB). L: Carter Chinn 5 IP (4K, 4BB).

Grove City (4-8, 2-1): Carter Chinn 1B, Lance Craig 1B, Mason Jones 1B, Julian Breese 1B

Slippery Rock (8-3, 3-0): Ian Balquist 1B 2R, David Duffalo 2-1B R RBI, Alex Duffalo 1B R RBI, Shane Thompson 2-1B, Mason Hildebrand 1B 2R

Tuesday: Titusville at Slippery Rock