SLIPPERY ROCK— The Slippery Rock Sliders baseball franchise has been bought by a group of investors in Holland, Mich., and will relocate there following the 2008 season.

The expansion Frontier League team likely will call Slippery Rock University's Critchfield Park home for one more year, however.

Sliders general manager Steve Tahsler met Friday morning with SRUpresident Robert Smith and athletic director Paul Lueken about leasing the school's ballpark for the 2008 campaign.

"They asked me to come up with some numbers for rental of the facility and I think we can make that happen,"Lueken said. "Their only other option is to play every game on the road next year, and they're not too crazy about doing that."

A stadium is being built in Holland, Mich., which is located along Lake Michigan just north of Grand Rapids, but it will not be ready until the 2009 campaign.

"My understanding is (the new owners) were looking for another ballpark nearby in Michigan that they could use for a year, but they couldn't find one,"Lueken said.

Tahsler said a formal announcement about the Sliders' future will likely come before the end of the month.

"The league's board of directors meet on the first weekend in November, so I expect things will be finalized by then,"he said.

"Nothing is official right now, but it looks very good that the team will be back in Slippery Rock next year,"Tahsler added.

While the team might be headed to Michigan in 2009, the Sliders' name and logo might be staying put.

Lueken said a group of local investors have offered to run the team here next season for the Michigan group, hoping to improve the marketing, fan base and game attendance to the point that the Frontier League will move another franchise to Butler County or put another expansion team here.

The revitalized Pullman Park in Butler is scheduled to open in March with about 1,500 seats — a similar seating capacity to Critchfield Park.

"Whether a (Frontier League) team is placed in our facility, Pullman Park, someplace in Cranberry, I'm fine with it,"Lueken said. "Either way, it'd be good for our community."

The Sliders finished 29-66 last season, the worst record in the league, and averaged 713 fans for 27 home dates, 19,253 fans in all. The league's next-lowest attendance figure was posted by Kalamazoo (Mich.) at 1,169 per game.

Southern Illinois, the league's other expansion franchise, drew 259,392 fans — 5,086 per game — for 51 home dates last season.

Greg Jelks, the Sliders' manager last year, likely will return, Tahsler said.

"The internship program (using college interns to run the team) would also be put back in place," he said.

Lueken would not reveal any names of the local investment group willing to run the Sliders next year.