Slammers Power Past Crushers

The Slammers exploded for five runs in the eighth inning as they came from behind to defeat the Lake Erie Crushers by a final score of 7-4 Friday night.

It was the Crushers getting on the board in the top of the first inning. The lead-off base-on-balls hurt Slammers’ starter Jason Jarvis as he walked Patrick Norris to start the game. Norris would steal second and with one away Andrew Davis drove him in with a single to right to make the score 1-0 Crushers. It was a close play at home as Josh Flores made a strong throw but Norris was safe.

Joliet’s offense got runners on in both the first and second inning but came up empty as two double plays erased early opportunities. Meanwhile Joel Collins hit a solo homer in the bottom half of the second to make it 2-0 Lake Erie on top.

The Slammers got one back in the top of the third. With one away Bobby Leeper singled and Hector Pellot drew a walk. Then with two down Devin Shepherd smacked a clutch single to drive in Leeper. Unfortunately, the inning ended right there as Pellot was thrown out after rounding second base too far. The run counted though and the Slammers were down 2-1.

Lake Erie got some insurance against the Slammers in the fourth. Again, it was a lead-off walk that came back to burn Jarvis as Davis took the free pass to start the inning. Two more walks loaded the bases with nobody out. Collins picked up his second RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly to give the Crushers a 3-1 edge. That was followed by a RBI single from Jason Taylor and it was 4-1 in favor of Lake Erie. Jarvis would avoid further trouble in the inning as he got two ground-outs to end the frame.

Jarvis continued to skate by as he got out of jams in the fifth and sixth inning. In the sixth, he gave up a lead-off triple, but a sweet defensive play by Pellot got the runner at home as he tried to score on a grounder.

The Slammers cut the deficit to 4-2 in the seventh on Erik Lis’ first homer of the year and the first dinger in team history.

In the eighth inning Leeper singled to right and a two-base error allowed him to advance all the way to third on the play. Pellot followed with a RBI double to narrow the gap to 4-3. That’s when Josh Flores unloaded on a pitch to hit it way out of the yard and give the Slammers the 5-4 lead. But the Slammers weren’t done. After Devin Shepherd walked, Lis smoked his second long ball of the game and Joliet was up 7-4. When the dust cleared the Slammers had scored five runs to dramatically take the lead from Lake Erie.

Aaron Dott replaced Jarvis in the eighth. The former Giants’ farmhand went seven innings, scattering six hits, giving up four runs, all earned, walking four and striking-out one on his way to the win. Jarvis moved to 1-1 with the victory. Dott worked a 1-2-3 frame to maintain the Slammers’ 7-4 edge. He’d come back out for the ninth inning and shut down the Crushers for his first save of the year.