By: Braeden Jones
EVANSVILLE, IN – In a doubleheader to make up the July 4th rainout between the Joliet Slammers (30-44) and Evansville Otters (44-30), only the home team could celebrate as they won both of the shortened games on Wednesday.
The Slammers put a quick run on the board in the top of the 1st inning to start this first doubleheader game. Patrick Ward laid down a double to start and would quickly score when Jackson Valera hit a double of his own. That started Joliet ahead at 1-0.
The Otters would immediately respond in the bottom of the 1st. Off the very first hit of the day for Evansville, Amani Jones came up to the plate and hit a solo home run. That would tie the game up early at 1-1.
The Otters would get their first lead of the day in the bottom of the 2nd inning. After Dennis Pierce was hit by a pitch and eventually got himself to second base, an RBI double from TJ Salvaggio brought Pierce home. That pushed the score to favor the home team at 2-1.
A one-run lead wouldn’t be enough for Evansville as they came into the bottom of the 3rd on a mission. Marcos Gonzalez would score after a single when Blake Robertson hit a 2-run homer to double the score for the Otters. Chris Kwitzer would come up later this half-inning and knock down a double, and he would score off an RBI single from Sam Linscott. Evansville left the third inning up 5-1.
The Slammers looked to respond in the top of the 4th inning. Three straight singles for Blake Berry, Valera, and Peyton Carr would load the bases for Joliet. That would set up a sacrifice ground out from Jackson Beaman to score Berry. The Slammers wouldn’t score any more runners this time around, leaving the score at 5-2.
The Otters would take that run right back in the bottom of the 4th inning. Two singles for Jones and Logan Brown created an RBI single for Robertson that brought Jones around to score. That shifted the score over to 6-2.
Joliet didn’t like a four-run deficit, so they stole a run back in the top of the 5th. After Brandon Heidal got himself a double, an RBI single from Ian Battipaglia would bring him home. The score had now moved to 6-3.
The Otters would once again grab that run away in the bottom of the 5th inning. Salvaggio would do it all himself as he would hit a solo shot that cleared the outfield wall, bringing Evansville’s lead to 7-3.
The Slammers would not take that run back, so the Otters saw that as a sign to add one more run to their total in the bottom of the 6th. A single for Gonzalez would create an RBI double for Robertson, advancing the lead to 8-3. That would also mark the final score for either team, meaning Evansville had taken the first game of this doubleheader with the five-run upper hand.
Moving over to the second game of this doubleheader, the Slammers came into it with revenge on the mind. The top of the 1st inning started off with a walk on Battipaglia, where he promptly stole second base and got a free pass to third base off a wild throw to second. Those extra bases would prove important when Ward laid down a sacrifice ground out that scored Battipaglia. Valera came up to the plate shortly after and after he hit a single, a few more hits shifted him to third base. He wouldn’t have to worry about waiting for another hit as a wild pitch allowed him to jog to home plate. Joliet started with the lead at 2-0.
Just like the first game today, however, the Slammers’ lead would not stand for long as the Otters came into the bottom of the 1st inning at full throttle. A walk on Jon Ponder and a single for Jones set up an RBI single for Gonzalez to bring Ponder home. LG Castillo would follow up with an RBI single of his own to score Jones, and Mark Black added an RBI single of his own that brought Castillo around to score. Evansville got their first lead of this game with a 3-2 advantage.
There would be a small scoring drought that the Otters eventually broke in the bottom of the 4th. After Gonzalez was walked, Robertson smoked a ball that hit the very top of the wall out in center field that was ruled a 2-run homer. That pushed Evansville’s lead to 5-2 after four innings.
Running out of innings to respond, the Slammers knocked in a run in the top of the 6th inning. A Tyler Cerny single set up an RBI single from Ward that moved the score a bit closer at 5-3.
The Otters knew that every run mattered in a closer game like this, so they snuck in a run in the bottom of the 6th to match Joliet. Ponder hit his first double of the day and was soon rewarded for it when Robertson got an RBI single. Evansville would head into the last opportunity for Joliet up 6-3.
The Slammers had a strong opening to the top of the 7th inning with their first two batters. Berry would get a double to start things off and Beaman followed that up with an RBI single to score Berry as Joliet’s fourth run of the game. Unfortunately for the visiting team, that was all the success the Slammers found and would drop this game as well, losing 6-4.
After adding two quick losses to their record, the Slammers will look to end this series against the Otters tied by picking up a win on Thursday. Evansville will look to win three of four games in the series finale at Bosse Field on Thursday.
