The Fourth of July provides an opportunity for families to come together and celebrate our country’s freedom.

A total of 724 fans decided to dedicate their holiday afternoon to watching America’s pastime at Pullman Park during ther Slippery Rock Sliders’ 6-3 victory over the Butler BlueSox in Prospect League action on Monday.

Kevin Jurkatis (3-2) earned the win in relief, despite surrendering a game-tying, two-run homer to Butler native and BlueSox catcher John Crummy in the seventh inning.

Heath Horvath went the first six innings for Slippery Rock (11-18), scattering four hits and allowing one unearned run.

“Heath has done a good job keeping us in games all year,” said Slippery Rock manager Andy Chalot. “We’ve been pitching a little better than our numbers probably indicate.”

The difference between winning and losing on Monday came down to cashing in with runners in scoring position.

Radley Haddad, Trent Wooldridge and Chris Vopinek all came through with RBI singles for the Sliders.

“The bats are starting to come alive a little bit,” said Chalot. “That’s one thing we’ve really struggled with in the first half (of the season) — getting hits once we get guys on.”

Slippery Rock pushed across the decisive runs in the top of the eighth inning.

Haddad stroked a leadoff double just out of reach of a sliding Stephen Vranka in left field.

The next batter, Kyle Brown, laid a bunt down the first-base line. First baseman Taylor Juran fielded it and tried to gun Haddad out at third, but the throw made its way past the bag and trickled into the Slippery Rock dugout. Haddad advanced home and Brown moved up to second.

With the infield in, Vopinek hit an RBI single between third base and shortstop, scoring Brown. Vopinek came around to score on a single from Wooldridge.

“We got some hits today with runners in scoring position, and we executed some hit-and-runs and bunts,” said Chalot. “We’re not going to hit a lot of home runs, that’s just not us. We have to manufacture runs.”

Jurkatis recovered from back-to-back extra-base hits in the seventh — a one-out double from Ryan Siegel and Crummy’s homer — and retired five of the next six batters he faced. Chase Byerly gave up two hits in the ninth, but secured the Slippery Rock win for his eighth save of the season.

Although the BlueSox were unable to give the fans at Pullman Park a win, Crummy still gave them reason to cheer.

The Butler native went 3-for-3, including the game-tying homer, and a two-out single to keep Butler’s hopes alive in the ninth.

Crummy was happy to put on a show in front of his hometown crowd.

“It felt real good,” he said. “I’ve been struggling early in the season, so to come out today and get a couple of nice base hits and that home run, it felt great.”

It was the first homer of the season for Crummy, who recently wrapped up his freshman season at the University of Miami at Ohio. He fought off a couple of 2-2 pitches before hammering the ball over the right-field wall.

“I was just trying to foul off all of the pitches I didn’t think I could get,” said Crummy. “I was actually trying to look for a fastball away, but he got it up and in a little bit and I was lucky enough to be able to turn on it.”

Butler manager Anthony Rebyanski — ejected in the top of the seventh after a controversial play at the plate — was hoping the long ball would spark the BlueSox to victory.

“We tied it with the two-run bomb that Crummy hit and then we gave up a three spot. That just kills your momentum,” he said. “We just got deflated after that.

“We have to stop giving up the big innings.“That has happened to us numerous times over the last week and a half.”

The Sliders gained a 3-1 edge when Wooldridge dropped down a bunt on a squeeze play. BlueSox pitcher Julian Diaz scooped up the ball on the third-base line and took a swipe at Brooks Schneider, who was attempting to scamper home. The umpire ruled that Diaz missed the tag, which cued a spirited argument from Rebyanski that led to his early exit from the ballgame.

The call didn’t bother Chalot, who’s hopeful his team can fully recover from some nagging injuries and surprise some teams in the second half of the year.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a little healthier,” he said. “I’d like for us to make a run at it in the second half. We get to start over.”

Slippery Rock 000 002 130 — 6 10 2Butler BlueSox 000 100 200 — 3 8 3W: Kevin Jurkatis 2 IP (1K, 0BB).

L: Brian Thompson 0.2 IP (1K, 0BB).

Slippery Rock (11-18): Trent Wooldridge 1B, Jon Capasso 1B, Michael Durham 1B, Radley Haddad 2B 1B, Kyle Brown 1B, Chris Vopinek 1B, Brooks Schneider 1B, Kevin Burgi 2-1B

Butler (12-17): Matt Berezo 1B, Shayne Houck 2-1B, Taylor Juran RBI, Ryan Siegel 2B 1B, John Crummy HR 2-1B

Wednesday: Chillicothe at Butler

Thursday: Chillicothe at Slippery Rock, DH