By: Braeden Jones
JOLIET, IL – In a game where both teams had one inning of immense scoring, the Joliet Slammers (28-42) had a bigger scoring round to win 10-8 against the New York Boulders (39-33) on Saturday.
The Boulders would be the first to get on the board in the top of the 2nd inning. The first hit of the game for New York was a triple from Norris McClure, and he would score off an RBI sacrifice ground out from Kyle Hess. The visiting team started in the lead at a 1-0 score.
The Slammers would respond in the bottom of the 4th. Tyler Cerny would be walked and would move to second base off a single from Chris Davis. A single from Ian Battipaglia would bring Cerny around to home plate, tying the game at 1-1.
Joliet would get the lead in the bottom of the 5th inning. After Peyton Carr got his second single of the night, Jackson Beaman would smoke a ball out to left field for a 2-run homer. The Slammers now had the advantage at 3-1.
The Boulders found another run in the top of the 6th. Owen McElfatrick opened up the half-inning with a double and would quickly score thanks to an RBI single from Julian Boyd. New York was still behind, but had gotten closer at a 3-2 score.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Slammers showed up wanting to put this game away. Ivan Dahlberg started it off with a single, and a walk on Battipaglia followed by a single from Patrick Ward loaded the bases with no outs. Blake Berry brought one home with a single to score Dahlberg and Peyton Carr brought home another with a single of his own to score Battipaglia. There was even more scoring from Joliet with an RBI double from Beaman that scored Ward and a single from Kadon Morton that bought Carr enough time to come home. With a walk on Davis, the bases were loaded once again, this time with two outs. That didn’t stop Dahlberg from returning to hit a 3-RBI double that scored Beaman, Morton and Davis before this round of hitting concluded for the Slammers. After going through 11 batters, the Slammers had scored 7 runs and brought the score to 10-2.
Most would think that an eight-run lead would seal the game, but not New York. The Boulders fought hard in the top of the 8th inning. Three straight walks on Boyd, Santino Rosso and Jason Agresti loaded the bases with no outs. An RBI single from Aaron Simmons and an RBI ground out from John Schroeder would score Boyd and Rosso, respectively. Hess would then be hit by a pitch, which set up a 3-run home run from Lee Amedee to score Agresti and Hess. Through 9 batters of work, the Boulders had scored 6 runs and the score now read 10-8.
That was all the scoring for the rest of the game, so the Slammers held off a big comeback attempt to win 10-8 at home.
Joliet will look to sweep the series against New York on Sunday in the series capper at Slammers Stadium, while the Boulders look to sneak out a win this series against the Slammers.
