STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A wrong turn nearly ended in tragedy last night when a bus carrying a minor-league baseball team from Pennsylvania collided with an SUV, mounted a guardrail and dangled precariously on the mangled metal at an overpass of the Staten Island Expressway.

Six individuals suffered minor injuries after the Susquehanna Trailways coach with the Williamsport Crosscutters aboard collided with an SUV before hitting the guardrail, police said. At least three persons, terrified that the bus would go through the guardrail and topple onto the Expressway below, scrambled through the windows, said EMS Deputy Chief Roberto Colon.

"The bus ricocheted off the SUV and went up the guardrail, straddling the center of the guardrail," said a man at the scene. "Two more feet to the left and it would have fallen down onto the Expressway. It was definitely their lucky day."

The Crosscutters, who, like the Staten Island Yankees, belong to the single-A N.Y-Penn. League, had beaten the Brooklyn Cyclones, 7-2, in Coney Island and were on their way to a Holiday Inn in Brooklyn when the bus driver apparently got lost.

The bus crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge onto Staten Island and the driver sought to re-cross the bridge.

On the return trip to Brooklyn, the bus collided with a Lexus SUV at the intersection of

at the Fingerboard Road overpass at 11:18 p.m., according to officials.

The Lexus SUV was driven by Dominique Bilotti, 22, of Grant City, according to the woman's father, Frank, 52, who arrived on the scene and said his daughter was conscious and talking before she was taken to the hospital.

The injured were transported to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, Colon said.

"It appears the bus hit the SUV and then hit the guardrail," said Colon. He said the bus luckily was stopped from going any farther because of the guardrail. If it had not, "it [the bus] would have traveled down the embankment and then it would have been a problem," he said.

According to Colon, there were 52 people on the bus, including the players. An NYPD spokesman confirmed the bus was carrying members of the Crosscutters, a minor-league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The elder Bilotti said he was a little shaken up by the crash but is grateful his daughter is still alive. "She was able to talk and she said the bus went through the red light," the elder Bilotti said.

The red-light allegation could not be confirmed early today.

Bilotti said his daughter was on her way to a friend's house before the accident occurred.

"Thank God she's okay," he said.

Philip Fox of Annadale, returning from work, saw the bus being hoisted to safe ground with the aid of a huge strap. "It looked just like a toy bus," he said.

The empty bus was safely removed off the guardrail shortly after 1 a.m. today.

The Crosscutters were slated to play the Cyclones at noon today at Brooklyn's MCU Park.

At press time, there was no word on whether the game would be played.