By: Braeden Jones
QUEBEC CITY, CANADA – The Joliet Slammers (39-53) seemed to use up all their luck against the Quebec Capitales (64-27) in the first matchup as this game heavily favored the Canadians, with Quebec winning 7-2 on Wednesday.
Like the first game of this series, the Capitales would strike first in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Eddie Hacopian would be the first to get on base with a single which set up an RBI double from TJ Schofield-Sam to score Hacopian. Schofield-Sam would find home plate himself as a sacrifice fly out from Chavez Young would bring in another score. Quebec got a pair on the board to start in the lead at 2-0.
The Capitales would continue the scoring in the bottom of the 4th. Ruben Castro would get a single before following it up with a steal to second base. That steal would pay off as a single from Torin Montgomery was enough to bring Castro home. Montgomery would shortly be taken out, but a new round of players would get on base. David Mendham and Hacopian would both hit singles, and a walk on Schofield-Sam would load the bases. Jordan Smith would put a ball in play that would score Mendham due to a fielding error, and Hacopian would score off a passed ball from third base. Those mistakes would shift the score even farther in favor of the home team at 5-0.
It would take a while, but the Slammers would get on the board in the top of the 7th inning. It would be an exciting start to the half-inning as Tyler Cerny would deliver a no-doubt solo homer for the second game in a row to finally put Joliet on the scorecard. Brandon Heidal would keep the action going as he was hit by a pitch and made his way to third base after a few ground outs. All that baserunning would pay off as Peyton Carr would knock down a single to score Heidal. The Slammers were still behind, but they had begun to close the gap as the score read 5-2.
The Capitales would take those two runs right back in the bottom of the 8th. Castro would find himself at first base after being walked, and that would set up a big play for Montgomery. As the last hit of the game, Montgomery would smoke a ball over the wall for a 2-run home run. The score turned into 7-2 after that hit as that would also be the final score.
The Slammers were hoping to close up the series in two games, but that series win will instead come down to the finale on Thursday against Quebec. The Capitales may have their revenge game in the books, but that doesn’t mean they will let up when they finish the series against Joliet on Thursday.
