SLIPPERY ROCK — Walk, don't run. Don't score any, anyway.

That proved an effective motto for Slippery Rock Sliders starting pitcher Luis Flores Tuesday night at Critchfield Park.

Flores, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound right-hander entering his senior year at Texas Pan American, walked five batters in the first two innings, but allowed none of them to score. He settled down to work six solid frames in defeating the Butler BlueSox, 3-2, in Prospect League play.

The game marked the Sliders' home opener.

Flores threw 36 pitches in the first inning, allowing a run-scoring single to Chris Rasky before walking the bases loaded with two outs. He got Neal Jacobs to ground out to second to escape further damage.

A single and two walks loaded the bases for the BlueSox with one out in the second, but Kyle Petty bounced into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.

“I just had to find my spots and settle down,” Flores said. “I know I wasn't missing by much.”

Flores threw 60 pitches in the first two innings, just 48 over the next four before leaving the game.

“I never considered getting anyone up in the bullpen early,” Sliders manager Shawn Pynn said. “That guy is a horse. He threw 130 innings in college each of his first two years.

“This year, they didn't throw him quite as much. He can throw a lot of pitches without too much trouble.”

Flores said he was mostly used out of the bullpen in college this year.

The Sliders scored twice in the third inning to take the lead they never lost. Trent Wooldridge doubled to right and scored on a two-out single to right by Pat Gerwicks. Derek Peake then doubled to left to plate the go-ahead run.

Mike Pocaro tripled down the right-field line and scored on a single to center by Ryan Abernathy in the fifth, upping the lead to 3-1.

“We couldn't get the extra-base hit tonight and they did,” BlueSox manager Anthony Rebyanski said. “We were rolling a lot of ground balls, which tells me we were trying to pull too many outside pitches. We're in a bit of a funk that way right now.”

Rasky got the BlueSox a run closer with a towering home run over the 375-foot sign in right-center field in the seventh. Butler managed only two hits in the final six innings, however, in dropping its fourth straight game.

“I pride myself in being able to keep my team in games,” Flores said. “I want to go as deep as I can. Pitch count doesn't mean that much to me.”

Josh Tinnon of Northern Colorado University worked the final three innings to earn a save for the Sliders.

The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes by rain.

“That probably threw Luis off early,” Pynn said. “That happens a lot to starting pitchers when a game doesn't start when it's supposed to. It's a big mental thing.”

Abernathy had three singles and an RBI to pace the Sliders' nine-hit attack. Slippery Rock entered the game with a .203 team batting average and has scored more than three runs in a game only once so far this season.

David Kucenic and Jon Danielczyk pitched four innings each for the BlueSox.

“They did a good job of holding us in the game. We pitched well enough to win tonight,” Rebyanski said.

Notes: Fred Ford, the Sliders' first baseman last year, was drafted in the seventh round by the Kansas City Royals Tuesday. ... Flores walked one batter over his final four innings of work. ... Route 8 Rivalry T-shirts will be given away at tonight's Sliders-BlueSox game at Pullman Park. They were given away at Tuesday night's game as well.

Butler 100 000 100 — 2 6 1Slippery Rock 002 010 00x — 3 9 0W: Luis Flores 6IP (6K, 6BB). L: David Kucenic 4IP (3K, 1BB).Butler (3-4): Elliott Caldwell 1B, Chris Rasky HR 1B 2-RBI, Kyle Petty 1B, Jason Radwan 1B, Justin Brozick 1BSlippery Rock (2-4): Trent Wooldridge 2B, Mike Pocaro 3B, Ryan Abernathy 3-1B RBI, Pat Gelwicks 1B RBI, Derek Peake 2B RBI, Pat Guinane 1B, Drew Bryan 1BToday: Slippery Rock at Butler, 6:35 p.m.,