Joliet's Good Pitching, Timely Hitting Down Y'alls
September 2, 2023 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release
JOLIET, IL - The Florence Y'alls, presented by Towne Properties, could only muster two unearned runs against an All-Star starting pitcher and surrendered timely hits with men on base in a 4-2 loss to Joliet Saturday night at Duly Health and Care Field.
Joliet's left-handed starter, Cole Cook, was up to his usual ways with seven strong innings pitched, scattering four hits and striking out four. He did not walk a batter in the winning effort, which is his league-leading twelfth win of the season. In two starts against the Y'alls this year, Cook struck out 14 batters over 14 innings with just one earned run allowed.
Joliet (45-50) took a first-inning lead again thanks to a Liam McArthur RBI-double, trading places with Julian Boyd who began the inning with a double. When the Y'alls tied in the fourth thanks to a throwing error, Boyd and McArthur came through again in the fifth to get the lead right back. Boyd led off the inning with a single, stole second and third, and scored on a McArthur RBI-single for the 2-1 advantage.
Joliet tacked on some insurance in the seventh when Matt Warketin hit a two-out, two-run home run to push the lead to 4-1. The Slammers nearly let the Y'alls back into the game in the ninth when the team's third error of the night produced a Florence run, but Craig Massey struck out with a man on first to end the evening. Joliet entered the game with the league's best fielding percentage and tied-fewest errors committed.
The Y'alls (38-57) were behind the eight ball from the jump when starting pitcher Ryan Watson was scratched moments before first pitch due to discomfort while warming up. Edgar Martinez - who pitched seven innings on Wednesday - went the first two innings, followed by two innings apiece from Aaron Rund and Nick Ernst. It was Ernst who allowed the go-ahead winning run in the fifth and takes the loss.
The Slammers have won all five games against the Y'alls at home and six games in a row overall against Florence going back to May. Florence has lost its last three games. McArthur and Boyd each had three hits for the Slammers. Brennan Price and Brian Fuentes had two hits each for the Y'alls.
The two teams wrap up the 2023 regular season tomorrow, Sunday, September 3, with a 6:05 PM CDT/7:05 PM EDT first pitch. Florence's Bobby Brabrand and Joliet's Ryan O'Reilly will make their final starts of the season for their respective teams. Each game in the season series has been decided by three runs or fewer.
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