FL Joliet Slammers

Mother Nature and Crushers Can't Defeat Slammers

Published on May 29, 2011 under Frontier League (FL)
Joliet Slammers News Release


(Avon, OH) - Kyle Maunus hit a solo shot in the ninth and the Joliet Slammers (5-4) survived two rain delays, including one that lasted 70 minutes, in a 5-4 victory over the Lake Erie Crushers (4-5) Sunday night.

The first four innings of Sunday's game took a mere 44 minutes as pitchers Andrew Moss and Josh Roberts traded throwing up zeroes on the scoreboard. That ended in the top of the fifth as Devin Shepherd crushed a solo home run to give the Slammers a 1-0 lead. Two outs later Ben Ferrell and Ben Hewett delivered back-to-back singles. For Hewett, it was the first hit of his professional career. That set up Bobby Leeper who continued his hot hitting by tripling home both runners and the Slammers were up 3-0.

In the sixth inning Shepherd went deep again to extend the advantage to 4-0.

It was the Andrew Moss show for the first seven innings for the Slammers. The right-hander walked a batter in the first but had a no-hitter through the first four innings. He gave up a single to Jason Taylor in the fifth but after Taylor stole second he was thrown out at third base trying to advance on a fly-out to Leeper in left.

Besides that, the Crushers had absolutely no luck against Moss until Mother Nature intervened. A lightning delay halted the game for about 20 minutes before the start of the eighth inning. After Moss came back to work the bottom of the eighth he wasn't the same. He would surrender three runs in the bottom of the eighth, two of them coming from a two-run home run off the bat of Kyle Shaffer. That would be all for Moss as Andy Deain entered the game. Deain would give up a solo homer of his own to Kyle Boe as the Crushers came all the way back to tie the game at four. Then the lightning started again and the rain started to fall in Avon.

After a 70-minute rain delay, Aaron Dott took over and finished off the eighth inning with no further runs scoring. Then in the ninth inning Maunus picked the perfect time for his first home run of the season.

Joliet native Ryan Quigley nailed down the save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. For Quigley it was his league-leading third save of the season.

With the win Joliet is tied with Windy City and Rockford for first place in the East Division. The Slammers are off on Monday before they start a six-game home stand Tuesday when they open a three-game set with the Florence Freedom. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. CST as former major leaguer Billy Petrick takes the hill. Plenty of good seats are available and fans can get two tickets for the price of one for Tuesday's game by calling the Box Office at 815-722-2287 or stopping by the stadium between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday and beginning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Check out the Joliet Slammers Statistics

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Frontier League Stories from May 29, 2011


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