Sports stats



FL Joliet Slammers

July 16 Joliet Slammers Game Notes

July 16, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Joliet Slammers News Release


JOLIET SLAMMERS (22-29) vs. GATEWAY GRIZZLIES (27-24)

Monday, July 16 - 7:05 p.m. CT

Silver Cross Field - Joliet, IL

Game #52 - Home Game #28 (22-29), (10-17)

RHP #39 Tommy Mendoza (3-3, 4.76 ERA) vs. RHP #25 Alex Kaminsky (5-3, 5.58 ERA)

Last time out.

The Slammers took their second straight series with a thrilling 6-5 win at Rent One Park on Sunday night over the Southern Illinois Miners. In the first, Erik Lis slapped a two-run double, followed up by another double from Kyle Maunus, making it 3-0. The Miners responded when Alvaro Ramirez brought in Darien Sandford. Brad Netzel launched a three-run home run in the fourth to give Joliet a 6-1 lead. But Southern pulled closer in the sixth off a Jake Kaase RBI double, and added another in the seventh off a Sandford single, making it 6-3. With the bases loaded in the eighth, Chad Maddox grounded into a double play while bringing a run across. The Miners put the game within one later in the inning when Cory Harrilchak brought home Kaase from third. In the ninth, with two away and a man on second, Kaase lined a shot to first base, but Maunus dove and knocked it down, securing the 6-5 win.

For Starters.

Tommy Mendoza is looking for his first win since June 14 tonight. Mendoza has suffered two losses and two no-decisions in his four starts since then. In his last outing on July 5 against Florence, Mendoza went five and two thirds innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits in a no-decision. 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.

Against Gateway..

The Slammers won all six of their games last season against the Gateway Grizzlies. This year they are 1-2 as they dropped two of three in Sauget May 18-20.

To open.

The Slammers are 7-11 in series openers this season.

Back-to-back.

The Slammers have won consecutive series for the first time since May 25-June 3 when they took back-to-back-to-back series from the Evansville Otters, Lake Erie Crushers and Washington Wild Things.

Home woes.

Joliet is 10-17 at home this season, the worst mark in the Frontier League.

Dynamic Duo.

All-Stars Abel Nieves and Hector Pellot either hold or share the team lead in 11 major offensive categories this season. Nieves leads the team in batting average at .356, Hits (62), Home Runs (tied with Erik Lis with four), Total Bases (86), OBP (.444), SLG (.494) and OPS (.939). Meanwhile Pellot leads the team in runs scored (40), doubles (14), walks (34), and stolen bases (9).

More walks than strike outs.

Nieves is the only Slammer with more walks (28) than strike outs (17).

Lis on fire in July.

DH and Hitting Coach Erik Lis is hitting .425 so far this July, tops on the team. Lis is still looking to find his power as his four home runs are well short of his 20 home run pace from last season.

Error indicator.

The Slammers are 7-23 in games when they make an error. They are 15-6 in games when they do not.

Out-hit.

When the Slammers out-hit an opponent they are 17-7, but when the opponent out-hits the Slammers Joliet has a record of 2-21.

Check out the Joliet Slammers Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board...

Frontier League Stories from July 16, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central