Former Slippery Rock University baseball player Jason Curry, who also is a Slippery Rock High grad, was the first player signed by the Frontier League expansion franchise in Slippery Rock.

SLIPPERY ROCK— Jason Curry never gave up on the idea of playing professional baseball.

After two years of trying to find a spot on a roster, professional baseball might have found him.

Curry recently became the first player signed by the Slippery Rock Sliders, an expansion team in the Frontier League. The outfielder will be one of 35 signed players in the team's preseason camp, which opens in mid-May.

The 26-year-old Curry knows Critchfield Park well. He played baseball there for Slippery Rock University and is a Slippery Rock High graduate as well.

Curry hit .312 with six homers and 25 RBI for SRUas a senior in 2004. He hit .331 with four home runs during his sophomore year.

"The big thing is I've never quit playing baseball," he said. "I'm still in shape and I still have the desire to play at the highest level I can, whether that's the Frontier League or with a major league organization."

The Frontier League is an independent minor league. None of its players are under contract to major league teams..

Longtime SRUbaseball manager Jeff Messer encouraged Curry to take a shot at making the new club's roster.

"Jason is physically stronger and quicker now than he was with us,"Messer said. "He's never stopped working out. He deserves this opportunity, and I think he'll make the team."

After two weeks of camp, Frontier League club rosters are pared to 24. Besides the maximum 35 players signed, each league franchise is permitted to add players to camp from a league-wide tryout and a local team tryout.

If Curry makes the roster, Curry can play in the Frontier League for only two years. The league's age limit is 27.

Curry has been working out daily with Knoch graduate and former SRUteammate Chase Rowe at La Roche College. Rowe is the head baseball coach there.

"Chase has a great eye for my swing,"Curry said. "He's helped me tremendously."

Sliders general manager Steve Tahsler insisted Curry was not signed simply because he is from the area.

"He's a strong-armed outfielder with a good bat,"Tahsler said. "Sure, it helps to have a local player when you're a new team. It gives local fans a face to identify with.

"But the object here is to win. Jason has been given an opportunity to make our team. It goes no farther than that. He has to perform to earn that spot."

Curry might not be the only SRUgraduate in camp. Messer said former Rock pitchers Mike Sikorski and Dan Herisko, along with shortstop Nathan Statzer, are expected to surface at the team's open tryouts in April.

Statzer, a Seneca Valley graduate, is now an assistant high school baseball coach under Dave Florie at Butler.