PITTSBURGH — When Chase Rowe was through playing baseball, he knew he'd want to coach it.

Still only 26, the Knoch High and Slippery Rock University graduate already has his coaching career up and flying.

"I've been pretty fortunate — very fortunate," he said.

Once his SRU playing career ended in 2005, Rowe was able to catch on as an assistant coach at LaRoche College under Rich Pasquale the following year.

When Pasquale accepted an assistant coaching position under Jeff Messer at SRU, Rowe, at the ripe old age of 23, was named head coach at LaRoche in the fall of 2006.

"A lot of that is being in the right place at the right time," Rowe said. "I owe a lot of that to Coach Messer. He puts in a good word for me and his word carries a lot of weight."

That's how Rowe was named manager of the Prospect League's Slippery Rock Sliders.

"(Sliders owner) Mike Bencic went to Coach Messer and asked him if he knew anyone who might be interested in managing," Rowe said. "He mentioned my name, we talked and I jumped at the chance.

"Any chance I can get to work with high-caliber athletes, I'm taking it. This is what I want to do."

Rowe guided La Roche to 25 wins in 2007 and 22 wins last year. This season, the team struggled to a 15-18 record, but returns all of its pitchers and a young nucleus of talented players.

For the past three summers, Rowe was coach and general manager of the Pittsburgh Diamond Dogs, an AAU team in the Western Pennsylvania Elite Baseball League. Thirteen players from that team moved on to college ball.

"We've finished in the middle of the pack, standings-wise, but we took a different approach with that team," Rowe said. "We use it as more of a developmental team. We teach the game and help kids get ready for the next level."

While Rowe will remain general manager of the Diamond Dogs, much of his attention this summer will be on helping the Sliders get ready for professional or major college baseball as he tries to win games.

"I like the idea of pressure," he said. "Pressure to perform, to put fans in the seats. SRU is like a second home to me. A chance to manage a team in the dugout that gave me so many great memories is almost too much to ask."

Rowe was a sophomore starting infielder on the 2003 Rock team that reached the Division II World Series.

"I remember us simply being a bunch of really competitive players with a good, strong group of seniors," he said. "There was a will to win on that team that I'll never forget."

Rowe developed an interest in baseball at a very young age. His father is a huge Pittsburgh Pirates fan and Rowe watched games with him on TV as a child.

While Rowe has a sister, baseball turned into a bonding element between father and son in his family.

"My dad would come home from work and we'd be in the backyard playing catch," he said. "When I was old enough, he put up a batting cage out there so I could go to work on my game."

A shortstop throughout Little League and high school, Rowe played second base and third base at Gulf Coast Community College in Florida and at SRU.

He set a Rock record his senior year by hitting 21 doubles in 44 games and entertained hopes of being drafted by a major league team.

That didn't happen, but coaching has.

"I'm excited about getting the chance to manage the Sliders," he said. "A lot of these guys have aspirations of playing in the major leagues. They treat the game differently. They respect it more. They care about it more.

"I can identify and appreciate that. That's the way I played the game and that's the way I feel about the game."

Rowe played for Darren Mazeroski, who, like Messer, is a longtime, well-respected collegiate coach, at Gulf Coast CC.

"I've been well-schooled and I consider myself a student of the game," Rowe said. "This is a challenge I'm ready for."