Butler senior Lance Slater, flanked by his mother, Stacy Slater, and his sister, Olivia, signs a letter of intent to play baseball at Gannon University. Butler baseball coach Josh Forbes is standing in back. John Enrietto/Butler Eagle11/11/22

BUTLER TWP — Explosive in football, solid in baseball.

Butler senior Lance Slater had a choice to make in terms of his collegiate destination.

A broken ankle suffered in June cost him his senior football season — and steered him in another direction. Slater recently signed a letter of intent to continue his academic and baseball career at Gannon University.

He will be playing for Mars graduate D.J. Cannon, who guided the Knights to the PSAC West regular season championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional in his debut season last spring.

“The coach is a great guy and I like the direction he’s taking the program,” Slater said. “When I saw the atmosphere at Gannon, it’s where I wanted to be.”

Slater also considered Indiana (Pa.), Washington & Jefferson and Pitt-Johnstown for baseball before deciding on Gannon. He had a stellar junior season in football, rushing for 255 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 6.9 yards per carry, catching 25 passes for 507 yards — averaging 20.2 yards per catch — for a pair of touchdowns.

He tore up his ankle during a non-contact preseason football workout at Art Bernardi Stadium.

“I was thinking about football and was getting some looks there,” Slater said. “But baseball has always been my No. 1 game. I played football for fun. Once I got hurt, I gave up on the idea of coming back to football.”

Slater said his ankle is close to 100 percent and expects to be ready for basketball season. That’s his winter sport.

The 5-foot-10 shortstop hit .302 for the Golden Tornado last season, scoring 12 runs and stealing five bases.

“Lance is a contact hitter, a top of the order guy,” Butler baseball coach Josh Forbes said. “He did a good job for us last year hitting in the No. 9 spot and turning over the order. This spring, we want him back in that leadoff position.

“Defensively, Lance makes all of the routine plays and some spectacular ones. His arm strength is OK. He’s athletic enough that he could play second base or center field as well.”

Gannon was 29-17 overall last season, 20-8 in league play. Slater will be the fourth Butler County high school graduate on Gannon’s roster in 2024.

Cam Vozel, a junior catcher from Seneca Valley, hit .287 as the Knights’ regular backstop in 2022. Alex Altmire is a junior infielder from Knoch and David Duffalo a sophomore catcher from Slippery Rock.

“I want to grow as a player and individual there, hopefully contribute to the team as a freshman in some way,” Slater said.

Forbes believes Slater can contribute right away.

“There’s a lot of ways Lance can help the team, even if he’s not a regular,” Forbes said. “He could be a defensive replacement or a pinch-runner, for instance. He can definitely be a late-game guy. That kid can do a lot of things on a baseball field.”

Slater plans to major in engineering at Gannon.