The Squeglia brothers of Shaler are just far enough apart in age that they have never played on the same baseball team nor against each other.

Chris Squeglia is a powerful 6-foot-3, 250-pound senior right-handed pitcher at Slippery Rock University.

Jon, his younger brother by two years, is a 5-8, 164-pound former outfielder and now a junior left-handed finesse pitcher at California University of Pennsylvania.

A number of circumstances, however, combined to put the two Shaler Area High School graduates on an apparent collision course to face each other in a key Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference game earlier this spring.

After a solid career at Shaler Area High School, Chris enrolled at Allegheny College but transferred to Slippery Rock after two years in Meadville, Pa. He then had to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and sat out a season.

Coming out of high school, two years after his older brother, Jon found an opportunity at California, where he tried out and made the team as a pitcher despite playing outfield for most of his high school career.

Last season, with both brothers' names coming up in the pitching rotation, the respective coaches thought better of it and bumped Chris to the second game of a doubleheader that day to avoid the brother versus brother matchup.

This season both brothers once again appeared to be on course for a head-to-head matchup, but again the school's coaches decided against it.

Although they took the mound on the same day, much to the relief of their parents, it was at different times.

When it comes to following their sons, Nick and Judie Squeglia usually split up for games with Nick going to the game farthest away.

On April 5, they made the trip on Interstate 79 North together from their Shaler home to Slippery Rock to attend a doubleheader. For the first game with Chris on the mound, they donned green and white for the Rock, then made the switch between games to red and black for Jon's trip to the mound for the Vulcans.

In the first game, Chris went the distance, pitching seven innings, allowing three earned runs, walking three and striking out five to pick up the win.

In the second game, Jon pitched five innings also allowing three earned runs, walking three and striking out five. He posted nearly identical numbers to his older brother's performance three hours earlier in getting the victory.

Things couldn't have worked out much better for Nick and Judie.

Chris's collegiate baseball career came to an end with a playoff loss in the opening game of the PSAC tournament to Millersville, 5-3, last week. He pitched a shutout through seven innings but ran into trouble in the eighth, loading the bases before being pulled for a reliever.

After a rather lengthy battle to return to form after getting surgery on his right elbow in December 2005, Chris put together a decent junior season. He had an ERA of 4.44 and logged 46 innings, striking out 45 batters and walking only 18.

This season he went 5-3 and led the team in innings pitched with 47. In his first two seasons of college ball at Allegheny, Chris had compiled a 10-3 record and pitched 93 innings.

"Its pretty tough knowing that [loss to Millersville] was going to be my last collegiate game," Chris said. "I am going to remember every win and every loss. Just the overall experience ... I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Chris will graduate from Slippery Rock Saturday with a degree in finance.

Meanwhile, little brother Jon is on target to graduate next May. He is majoring in communications and might play for the Pittsburgh Pandas, a summer college-league team, once again in preparation for his senior year at California.

Despite being a walk-on and making the team after a tryout Jon grabbed a spot in the starting rotation during his freshman year on a spring-break trip to Savannah, Ga. He won his first game and has been in the starting rotation ever since.

This past season Jon went 4-1, throwing a complete game with the fourth best ERA on the team.

Last year in one of his collegiate highlights, Jon took the mound in a PSAC tournament game opposite Kutztown's Mike McCardell, who was ranked No. 1 in the country among Division II pitchers and was drafted in the sixth round by the Minnesota Twins. Squeglia went seven innings allowing one run and striking out four batters to gain an upset win.

"With Jon it was a matter of him taking advantage of an opportunity and doing well," his dad said. "He didn't pitch all that much in high school and he went down to California and made the team.

"We are very proud of both our sons to work hard and be successful at two schools with good baseball programs."