Slammers rally for fifth straight victory

JOLIET – After rallying from an early 7-1 deficit to win an 11-10 game in 11 innings over Gateway on Tuesday, the Joliet Slammers hoped to keep the momentum rolling when they sought a fifth straight win in the middle game of the series.

But in Wednesday’s matinée the Slammers again found themselves behind, this time 2-1 going into the seventh inning.

But manager Jeff Isom’s squad tied things with a run in the seventh and erupted for five runs in the eighth to capture a 7-2 Frontier League victory at Slammers Stadium.

In the eighth, Danny Zardon broke the tie with a three-run triple. He scored on a single by Dom Iero (2 for 3) and Ridge Hoopii-Haslam (2 for 5, two RBIs) singled in the final run.

That made a winner of Gibson Russ, the third of four Slammers pitchers. Starter Duke von Schamann allowed five hits and two runs in six innings. Andrew Zellner, Russ and Jordan Wellander didn’t allow a hit during their three innings of work.

In the seventh inning, the Slammers (26-28) tied it on a sacrifice fly by Steven Pollakov. Gateway moved in front with single runs in the fourth and sixth.

Melvin Rodriguez also went 2 for 5 for the Slammers, who scored a run in the first inning on a leadoff homer by Hoopii-Haslam.

In Tuesday’s 3:54 opener, Rock Shoulders forced extra innings with a two-out grand slam in the ninth inning to tie things at 10-10.

Two innings later, Zardon started the inning at second, was singled to third by Edwin Gomez (3 for 5) and came home when Travis Bolin hit into a fielder’s choice.

That made a winner out of Confesor Lara, who didn’t allow a hit and struck out two in 12/3 innings. Joliet’s five relievers combined to yield just three hits in 71/3 innings.

The teams conclude play at
7:05 p.m. Thursday before the Slammers welcome Southern Illinois for a weekend series.