GROVECITY — Things started out well for the Slippery Rock High School baseball team.

Then things got a little wild.

Well, a lot wild.

With a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning againstrival Grove City, the Rockets let that lead bounce right past them — literally.

The Eagles scored six runs on only two hits in the frame, taking advantage of two errors, three walks and six wild pitches on the way to a 9-6 win Monday afternoon.

"You can't walk people and you can't have mental mistakes," said SlipperyRock coach Paul Malley. "It's the little things in a close game like this that make the difference."

All six runs in the third inning were unearned against SlipperyRock starter BrandonRay, who left the mound after 2X\c innings pitched with a calf injury.

Things didn't get much better for reliever Mark White, who surrendered a two-run home run to Beau Fisher in the fifth inning to give the Eagles some insurance runs.

They needed it.

Grove City starter BobRevesz was not sharp. The left-hander gave up two runs in the first inning, keyed by an RBI double by Sean Ray.

He did strike out seven in five innings.

"He just wasn't quite on in the first inning," said Grove City coach PatForese. "He put a couple of guys on and gave up a couple of runs. Other than that, he through pretty well. They have some hitters. They are a pretty good team."

Grove City couldn't solve MattWhite, as the SlipperyRock leadoff hitter reached base in all four of his plate appearances and drove in two runs with a double in the sixth inning to make things hairy for the Eagles.

But Jesse Alfreno, the Eagles' closer this season, relieved Ross Trinch in the sixth to get the final two outs of the frame and then wiggled out of a jam in the seventh to earn the save.

"He's a quality pitcher," Forese said. "I don't know how many wins he has in his career — he's been a starter and pitched an awful lot. But this year we decided to try it this way. That way we can keep him in center field where he is really strong defensively and let him run down fly balls all day. But when we need him, he can come in and close."

Grove City committed two errors in the seventh inning, but Alfreno picked off a runner at first and Slippery Rock had another runner gunned down at the plate to preserve the victory.

"It's better to win ugly than lose ugly," Forese said.

For Slippery Rock, the last two weeks have been just plain ugly.

After an impressive 3-0 start, the Rockets have won only one of their last five games.

"Everyone is still up because they've seen the competition," Malley said. "This is our fourth (region) loss and we've lost them by eight runs total. We've had the lead in all of them. It's a just a matter of getting through that one inning, like the third inning today, and finding a way to get out of it."

SlipperyRock 201 102 0—6 6 3Grove City 006 030 0—9 8 2WP: BobRevesz (5 IP) 7 strikeouts, 3 walks.

LP: Brandon Ray (2X\c IP) 2 strikeouts, 3 walks

Slippery Rock (4-5, 1-4): Mark White 1B, 2B, 2-RBI; Ryan Hays 1B, RBI; Billy Messer RBI; Sean Ray 2B, RBI; Brandon Ray HR, RBI; Adam Brydon 1B.

Grove City (6-2, 4-1): Beau Fisher HR, 2-RBI; DanKeil 2-1B; Revesz RBI; Andy Geibel 2-1B, RBI; Dan Sonntag 2-2B, RBI

Wednesday: Meadville at SlipperyRock; Commodore Perry at Grove City