Sports

Field of Dreams: Joliet Slammers Have High Hopes For Coming Season

Just down the road in Joliet, a new professional baseball team is kicking off its inaugural season at Silver Cross Field.

Wrigley Field is four years and 40 miles away from the mound Billy Petrick will be pitching from in Joliet. But the Morris product knows he has what it takes to get back there.

"That's why I'm here," said the 6-foot-6 right-hander who pitched in eight games for the Cubs in 2007 and is now a member of Joliet's new professional baseball team, the Slammers of the Frontier League.

Petrick underwent surgery in 2009 and pitched briefly with the now-defunct Joliet JackHammers in 2010. Now he's back to lead the Slammers staff and hopefully make his way back to the big leagues.

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"I want to show teams I'm healthy," Petrick said while on the field for the Slammers Media Day at Silver Cross Field earlier this week.

Petrick is back living in Morris while he plays for the Slammers. And he has a familiar face from the Cubs organization on the staff with him — lefty Carmen Pignatiello, who pitched in six games for Chicago in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.

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Petrick said he and Pignatiello never pitched for the Cubs at the same time, but exchanged "high fives" as one went up to the majors and the other was sent down to the minors.

"It's good to have him here because he's seen me at my best," Petrick said of Pignatiello, who graduated from Providence Catholic High School and now lives in Aurora with his wife and son.

The Slammers open their season at home Thursday night against the Washington Wild Things.


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