SLIPPERY ROCK — Nate McCollough stood with his hands on his hips, his mouth ajar in disbelief.

There are tough losses.

Then there was this one.

The Slippery Rock High baseball coach watched his team draw 10 walks, take the lead twice — and lose the lead twice — and then have a controversial call torpedo a rally in the top of the seventh inning in a 6-4 loss to Cathedral Prep in the District 10 Class AAA championship game at a packed Jack Critchfield Park Monday afternoon.

“We fell a little short today,” McCollough said.

After Slippery Rock fell behind 6-4 after six innings, Travis Lauster led off the seventh by drawing a walk — the ninth issued by Ramblers starter Carter Cross, who has committed to Nebraska.

Cross was then relieved by Mark Majewski, who promptly walked Danny Williams to put two on with no outs.

Jason Rockburn followed with a drive to center that was hauled in by Cross, who had moved to the outfield after throwing 122 pitches.

Lauster tagged up from second and moved to third, but was called out as the base umpire ruled Lauster had left second base early.

Josh Bowser then doubled to put runners on second and third with two out before Majewski got a fly out to Cross in center to end the wild inning and the game.

McCollough argued that Lauster had not left early.

“(The umpire) said, 'I have it 100 percent and I don't want to talk about it,'” McCollough said.

“You never want to blame it on umpires,” McCollough added. “But when a call like that gets made, it's tough not to.”

Slippery Rock (20-2) took advantage of Cross' wildness in the top of the first inning, drawing three walks and having another batter hit by a pitch around a RBI groundout by Danny Williams to take a 1-0 lead.

Prep (20-2) tied it in the bottom of the third on an unearned run against Slippery Rock left-handed starter Jake Arienzo, who pitched 4 1/3 strong innings.

“We got what we wanted. Jake threw a great game. He did what we wanted him to do,” McCollough said.

Slippery Rock took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning, once again capitalizing on three walks by Cross and a RBI single by Williams.

But Arienzo and reliever Gunner Becker ran into trouble in the bottom of the frame, giving up three runs as the Ramblers surged ahead, 4-3.

Becker, who came in from his position at second base to pitch in the middle of an at-bat, was not sharp.

“We wanted to change the speed on them — give them something from a lefty and something from a righty,” McCollough said. “Gunner didn't have his best stuff today — he's thrown a lot and that could have been a little bit of an affect on him.”

Slippery Rock tied the game in the top of the sixth inning as Becker drew a walk and scored on a triple by Ryan Lauster.

Cathedral Prep, however, got to Becker for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a RBI triple by barely used reserve Holden Stevanus and a RBI double by Nick Hess.

Stevanus had just 14 at-bats this season.

“He's been doing a great job in practice,” said Cathedral Prep coach Dave Hess. “He came through for us big time.”

Cross picked up the win, even though he walked nine. Cross had walked 11 in 29 innings this season coming into the game.

“Carter didn't have his A-game today,” Hess said. “But he just keeps competing and battling and he never gives up. He's just a great player.”

The loss is particularly tough for Slippery Rock, which had its season end suddenly despite just two losses this season.

It was Slippery Rock's second district title game appearance in three seasons. The Rockets won the championship in 2013.

Distict 10 Class AAA gets just one spot in the state playoffs.

“It's tough because you have two really good teams battling and either one could come out and make a really good showing at states,” McCollough said. “They just made more plays than we did today, and that's what it comes down to.”

Slippery Rock 100 021 0 — 4 3 1

Cathedral Prep 001 032 x — 6 7 0

W: Carter Cross 6+IP (8K, 9BB). L: Gunner Becker 1.1IP (1K, 1BB). SV: Mark Majewski 1IP (0K, 1BB)

Slippery Rock (20-2): Ryan Lauster 3B RBI 2-R, Danny Williams 1B 2-RBI, Josh Bowser 2B

Cathedral Prep (20-2): Cross 1B RBI, Austin Braendel 2B, Holden Stevanus 3B RBI, Nick Hess 2B RBI, Colin Williams 1B RBI, Mike Douds 2-1B