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FL Joliet Slammers

August 17 Joliet Slammers Game Notes

August 17, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Joliet Slammers News Release


JOLIET SLAMMERS (35-46) vs. LAKE ERIE CRUSHERS (45-36)

Friday, August 17 - 7:05 p.m. CT

Silver Cross Field - Joliet, IL

Game #82 - Home Game #43 (35-46), (18-24)

RHP #39 Tommy Mendoza (4-5, 4.52 ERA) vs. LHP #23 Paul Fagan (7-6, 3.26 ERA)

Last time out.

Joliet lost 6-4 yesterday. Abel Nieves put the Slammers up early in the top of the first inning, belting a home run to put Joliet up 2-0. They tacked on another in the top of the third when Patrick Norris laced a leadoff triple and was brought around on a groundout by Brad Netzel. With runners on the corners in the third, Ryan Still singled to put the game within two, and Chase Burch closed the gap with a solo shot in the fourth. Jose Vargas tied the ballgame up in the sixth when he brought around Brian Heere on an RBI single. Sean Gusrang went yard in the seventh to take a 4-3 lead, but a Traverse City error allowed David Christensen to score and tie it up at four apiece. After putting up nine RBI through the first two games of the series, Marcus Nidiffer put the Bums over the top on a two-run walk-off homer to end the game 6-4. Rey Cotilla took the loss for Joliet as the Slammers got swept by Traverse City.

For Starters.

Tommy Mendoza is coming off an outstanding outing against the Rockford RiverHawks on August 11 when he went seven and two thirds innings (his longest outing as a member of the Slammers), giving up only one run on four hits. He walked two and struck out four to earn his first home win of the 2012 season. He has faced the Crushers once this season and beat them on May 29 in Avon, Ohio, going six innings of two-run ball in a 3-2 Slammers victory. Mendoza made his first start for the Slammers on June 27, 2011 and went on to post a 6-2 record during the regular season. He won both his starts in the playoffs while posting a 1.50 ERA. Mendoza was a 5th round draft pick of the Angels in 2005. He has a career ERA of 3.97 over six seasons in affiliated baseball. The right-handed pitcher rose to the Triple-A level at the age of 21 in 2009. He was 7-7 with a 3.36 ERA for Double-A Arkansas and was named a Texas League All Star before earning the promotion to Salt Lake. With the Bees he went 2-1 with a 2.91 ERA. Mendoza suffered from multiple injuries in 2010 which only allowed him to pitch in 10 games.

Home woes.

Joliet is 18-24 this season at home, the second worst record in the Frontier League. Only Washington (16-23) has a lower winning percentage at home this year than the Slammers.

That being said.

The Slammers have won five out of their past six games at home and are looking to win their third straight home series. Joliet must win their final six home games to finish with a .500 mark at the yard.

Triple your pleasure.

Former Lake Erie Crusher Patrick Norris leads the Slammers with three triples this season.

Workhorse.

Rookie left-hander Geoff Brown continues to have an impressive season as he made his league-leading 40th appearance of the season out of the bullpen last night. Brown currently sports a 3.62 ERA in 37.1 innings with 41 strike outs.

Netzel heating up.

Brad Netzel is currently working on an 11-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 24 of the team's past 26 games. He went 8-12 in the team's most recent series against Traverse City.

Five or more.

Joliet 22-11 when scoring 5 or more runs in a game. They are 13-35 when scoring fewer than 5 runs.

Walk this way.

Abel Nieves has drawn a team-leading 51 walks this season, good for 5th in the Frontier League. Even more impressively, he's the only active Slammers player to record more walks than strike outs this season as he has only fanned 33 times in 278 at bats.

Error indicator.

Joliet is 11-33 in games when they make an error. They are 24-13 in games when they do not.

Check out the Joliet Slammers Statistics



Frontier League Stories from August 17, 2012


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