FL Joliet Slammers

August 18 Joliet Slammers Game Notes

August 18, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Joliet Slammers News Release


JOLIET SLAMMERS (35-47) vs. LAKE ERIE CRUSHERS (46-36)

Saturday, August 18 - 6:05 p.m. CT

Silver Cross Field - Joliet, IL

Game #83 - Home Game #44 (35-47), (18-25)

RHP #27 Matt Sommo (2-3, 3.66 ERA) vs. RHP #18 Matt Smith (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Last time out.

Joliet lost 4-3 last night. Brad Netzel lofted a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 Joliet in the third inning. The Crushers scored in the sixth when Andrew Davis slapped an RBI single with runners on the corners to tie things up. Joliet pulled ahead in the home half when David Christensen belted a run-scoring double to take a 2-1 lead. Lake Erie closed the gap yet again in the seventh on a wild pitch for a tie at two apiece. Their offense finally came alive in the eighth when they loaded the bases on Joliet's Chase Doremus. Geoff Brown entered in relief, but surrendered a pair of runs on another Andrew Davis base hit. Joliet pulled closer in the home half of the inning when Patrick Norris came across on a wild pitch, but they came up just short in the 4-3 final. Tommy Mendoza threw into the seventh for the Slammers and surrendered just two runs, but the relief allowed the winning runs.

For Starters.

Matt Sommo (who turns 24 today) has won his last two starts for Joliet. He's coming off a win against Rockford on August 12, going six innings, scattering 10 hits, while giving up only three runs in an 8-4 win for Joliet. He's faced Lake Erie twice this season, both times out of the bullpen with the London Rippers. Sommo has pitched a total of six and a third innings against Lake Erie, giving up only one run (unearned). Sommo began the 2012 season with the Sioux Falls Pheasants of the American Association. He most recently pitched for the defunct London Rippers. He played his college ball at Division II University of New Haven. He led all team starters in 2011 with a 4-1 record and a miniscule 1.29 ERA. Sommo struck out 38 batters in 49 innings while walking just 12. Over his collegiate career he carried a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 3-to-1.

Platoon split.

Erik Lis leads the Slammers with a .320 batting average against right-handed pitchers but he is only hitting .188 when facing a left-handed pitcher.

Home woes.

Joliet is 18-25 this season at home, the second worst record in the Frontier League. Only Washington (17-24) has a lower winning percentage at home this year than the Slammers.

That being said.

The Slammers have won five out of their past seven games at home and are looking to win their third straight home series.

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 41st appearance of the season out of the bullpen last night. Brown currently sports a 3.52 ERA in 38.1 innings with 43 strike outs.

Netzel heating up.

Brad Netzel is currently working on a 12-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 25 of the team's past 27 games. He went 8-12 in the team's most recent series against Traverse City.

Walk this way.

Abel Nieves has drawn a team-leading 52 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 281 at bats.

Error indicator.

Joliet is 11-34 in games when they make an error. They are 24-13 in games when they do not.

Transaction Wire.

The Slammers placed OF David Fox on the 7-Day DL today and signed OF Andrew Brauer.

Check out the Joliet Slammers Statistics



Frontier League Stories from August 18, 2012


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