By: Braeden Jones
CRESTWOOD, IL – The Joliet Slammers (4-11) get their first win in over a week as they take the first game in the series versus the Windy City ThunderBolts (8-9) at Ozinga Field on Tuesday with a score of 12-4.
Joliet’s Blake Berry started the scoring as he hit a solo home run to give the Slammers the early lead at 1-0 in the top of the 1st inning.
The Slammers would build on that lead as a bases-loaded walk brought Braylin Marine home before Ian Battipaglia hit a 2-RBI single to double the Slammers current score, and Joliet left the top of the 4th inning with a 4-0 advantage.
Carlos Pena put the ThunderBolts on the board in the bottom of the 4th with a solo home run of his own before a ground out from Khyle Radcliffe scored Oscar Serratos. The inning ended with the Slammers still in the lead at 4-2.
Joliet would be the next to score off of a Cam Suto RBI triple, shortly followed by an RBI single from Jackson Valera. Both of these scores occurred in the top of the 6th inning and brought the lead to 6-2 for the Slammers.
Windy City got another blessing from Pena as he hit his second home run in a row. While it was another solo shot, it still brought the ThunderBolts within half of the lead as the score now sat at 6-3 after the bottom of the 6th.
Half was too close for the Slammers as the top of the 7th was a hitting frenzy for Joliet. Three straight walks to open the inning led to three straight scoring plays before a double and a walk set up another RBI single. Josh Phillips was able to bat twice in the 7th due to all the scoring, but his second appearance ended in a fly out to stop the Slammers scoring. The damage was already done, however, as Joliet now held a 11-3 lead.
The Slammers were able to sneak one more run in during the top of the 8th inning with an RBI single courtesy of Berry. This brought the Slammers up to their biggest lead of the day at 12-3.
The ThunderBolts still had a little bit of life left in them from a Serratos single to score Pena, but the bottom of the 8th was the last time either team would score, giving Joliet the 12-4 victory.
After ending a 5-game losing streak, the Slammers look to begin a winning streak against Windy City on Wednesday. Now sitting at a 4-game losing streak, the ThunderBolts look to rebound and protect home field against Joliet on Wednesday.
