By: Braeden Jones
FLORENCE, KY – After the Joliet Slammers (29-37) had two separate two-run leads in this game, the Florence Y’alls (36-30) hit three deep shots to take the lead and never looked back, winning 6-3 on Tuesday.
The Slammers came out of the gate looking to set the pace of this game in the top of the 1st inning. Ian Battipaglia would hit a single to start off this game, and his teammate Tyler Cerny would be hit by a pitch to be put on base as well. Jackson Valera then came up to the plate and hit a single to score Battipaglia and move Cerny to third base. Cerny would step on home plate when Blake Berry hit a deep fly out to right field. That started this game off at 2-0 in favor of Joliet.
The Y’alls had a quick response in the bottom of the 1st. Off the first hit of the day for Florence, Hank Zeisler hit a solo homer to get his team on the board. The score still was in favor of the visiting team, but the Y’alls had moved the score to 2-1.
The Slammers would take that one run back in the top of the 4th inning. After Patrick Ward hit a double, Battipaglia would score Ward off of a sacrifice ground out. That pushed the lead further to Joliet’s side at 3-1.
The Y’alls would get that run back and more in the bottom of the 4th. Zeisler would start off this half-inning with his second solo shot of the night, setting the standard for Florence’s batting. Brendan Bobo would get on base with a single shortly after that and score when Milo Rushford hit a 2-run homer. Three home runs in this game gave Florence their first lead of the night at 4-3.
After neither team scored for a few innings, the Y’alls would get a few insurance runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. Dillon Baker would lead off this half-inning with a double, and he would score thanks to a single from Tyler Shaneyfelt. Shaneyfelt would also step on home plate once Zeisler got a single as his third scoring hit of the day, following his two home runs.
That would be all the scoring either side saw, so the Y’alls would take the first game of the series with a 6-3 victory.
Still sitting at 29 wins on the season, the Slammers will eye win 30 in the next game against the Y’alls on Wednesday. Florence will look to win this series in two games when they play Joliet at home on Wednesday.
