GROVECITY — Brandon Ray has a thick, curly beard and speaks every bit like a grizzled veteran.

But that belies his youth. Ray is only a junior on the SlipperyRock HighSchool baseball team, but he carries himself as if he's been around the block a few hundred times.

"I love baseball," Ray said after his Rockets blew a 3-0 lead and fell toGrove City HighSchool 9-6 Monday. "I come out every day and try to work hard. You know, that's allI try to do. Last year, we won only five games, and that's not what we're all about."

Ray is all about reasserting himself as a key contributor for the Rockets this season after spending a large part of the 2005 campaign deep on the Slippery Rock depth chart.

It was something that had Ray scratching his head about last season, but he's grateful he doesn't have to endure again.

Ray played sparingly as a sophomore.He did have some mild hamstring troubles, but he insisted it wasn't enough to keep him off the field.

He pitched only a few innings and went to the plate even fewer times.

But this year has been different for Ray. He's one of the Rockets' most reliable pitchers.

He struck out 12 batters in back-to-back starts earlier in the season and has two of the Rockets' four wins this season. Ray has struck out 32 hitters in 25Z\c innings.

He also has become a solid hitter, blasting a grand slam against Sharon in a 6-1 win and homering in the loss againstGrove City Monday.

"Last year, I wasn't given the opportunity," Ray said. "This year, I have been given the opportunity by (first-year coach Paul Malley), and you can see what happens when you are just given the opportunity to play."

Ray has dedicated himself year-round to the sport.

He played for the Lyndora Lancers in the fall, pitching and catching for that team. This summer, he plans to play a grueling 86-game schedule in a Youngstown league.

Ray said he owes his development as a pitcher to JoryCoughenour, an instructor at the Diamond TrainingCenter inWarrendale.

Coughenour graduated from Uniontown HighSchool, went on to pitch four years at the University of Pittsburgh and was then drafted by the HoustonAstros.

He spent several seasons in the Astros organization before pitching most recently for the WashingtonWild Things.

"Jory showed me some different pitches, a different windup that wouldn't wear on my arm,"Ray said. "He showed me how to use my legs more to help my arm. He's a heck of a guy. He's been showing me a lot of great things."

Ray now has five different pitches in his arsenal: two-seam and four-seam fastballs, a curveball and two different types of changeups.

He relies mostly on his fastball and a wicked curveball thatCoughenour taught him.

"You know how some pitchers won't throw a curveball in a 3-2 count?" Ray said, shaking his head. "Not me."

Ray hasn't had many 3-2 counts because he has been getting ahead of the hitters.

Now, he hopes his team can get back to getting ahead of the competition.

TheRockets started out 3-0, but have won just one of their last five games and are slipping in the region standings.

The second half of the region season begins today againstFranklin, and SlipperyRock needs to put the rough games it has had in the last two weeks behind it.

Ray and the Rockets gave up six unearned runs in the third inning against Grove City. Those runs were scored courtesy of two errors, three walks and six wild pitches.

"We wiped out those first three teams," Ray said. "We were feeling confident being 3-0. They you go back to the same things. Passed balls, errors, hit batters.

"We do have half the season left, and you can look for SlipperyRock to turn it around."

Malley has been very pleased with Ray's performance this season.

"I wasn't here last year, so I don't know much about what happened to him last year," Malley said. "He's doing very well pitching and catching."

If SlipperyRock is to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2003, Ray will have to be a big part of it.

But, like a grizzled veteran saying all the right things,Ray just wants to get there, no matter what happens to him.

"I don't care if I go 0-for-32 and I get no decisions the rest of the year," he said. "As long as we sweep the division, hey, I'm a happy man because I know I'm going up to play at Jerry Uht (Park) up inErie. That's where I want to be."