FL Joliet Slammers

June 30 Joliet Slammers Game Notes

June 30, 2012 - Frontier League (FL)
Joliet Slammers News Release


JOLIET SLAMMERS (17-22) @ ROCKFORD RIVERHAWKS (14-24)

Saturday, June 30 - 6:05 p.m. CT

RiverHawks Stadium - Loves Park, IL Game #40 - Road Game #19 (17-22), (9-9) RHP #39 Tommy Mendoza (3-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. LHP #20 Jack Crawford (RiverHawks Debut)

Last time out...

The Slammers fell by a score of 7-4 in six innings to the Southern Illinois Miners on Friday night. The game was called early as a violent storm swept through Joliet, knocking the tarp off the field. Southern Illinois continued to play long ball on their way to the series sweep as Jason Ganek smacked a three-run home run to give them the 3-0 lead in the second inning. Southern scored two more in the third off Wander Alvino before the Slammers rallied with two of their own in the third. Kyle Maunus scored on a wild pitch and Sean Estand doubled him home to make it a 5-2 game. David Fox doubled in Abel Nieves and Maunus drove in Fox with a sacrifice fly in the fourth to cut the Miners' lead to one. But Southern Illinois responded with two insurance runs in the fifth inning. Just as the top of the seventh inning was getting started, the storm arrived, ending the game and the series.

For Starters...

Tommy Mendoza is coming off a rough outing against the Windy City ThunderBolts on June 24 as he suffered his second straight defeat. The right-hander went six innings, giving up five runs on eight hits as the Slammers fell by a score of 5-4. 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.

Rock bottom?

The Slammers are a season high eight games out of first place and a season worst 5 games under .500.

Losing streak...

The Slammers currently have a three-game losing streak. With a loss tonight they would match their longest losing streak of the season.

Swept away...

The Miners' sweep of the Slammers was the second time this season Joliet has been swept. Traverse city swept them June 17-19 at Silver Cross Field. The Slammers have only swept one team: the Lake Erie Crushers in Avon, May 29-31.

Abel is able...

Abel Nieves currently leads the Slammers in batting average (.361), Hits (48), Total Bases (66), OBP (.442), SLG (.496) and OPS (.939).

Plunked...

The Slammers' pitchers have hit 38 batters on the season, most in the Frontier League.

Walks and K's...

Slammers second baseman Hector Pellot leads the club in walks (25) and strike outs (28).

Playing from behind...

The opponent has scored first in 24 games against Joliet. The Slammers are 7-17 in those games.

Mandelblatt up and down...

Zach Mandelblatt leads the Slammers in HR with 4 and RBI with 23. But he is last on the team in batting average as he's only hitting .200 on the season

Error indicator...

The Slammers are 3-16 in games when they make an error. They are 14-6 in games when they do not.

Out-hit... When the Slammers out-hit an opponent they are 14-5, but when the opponent out-hits the Slammers Joliet has a record of 2-17.

Check out the Joliet Slammers Statistics



Frontier League Stories from June 30, 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