Slammers Go Scoreless In Game One

by Lauren Rhodes

JOLIET, IL - Coming off of a big win against Schaumburg, Joliet looked to make light work of the Gateway Grizzlies in game one. Kicking things off on the mound tonight for the Slammers was lefty Mario Samuel. 

Gateway came out swinging in the top of the third inning putting two runs on the board. An RBI single from Chase Vallot would bring home Abdiel Diaz. Another RBI from Dustin Woodcock would allow Jay Prather to cross the plate putting the score in favor of the Grizzlies 2-0. 

In the top of the fifth inning, Samuel came out of the game with an injury. Samuel would be relieved by right hander Austin Shea. Samuel would toss 4.2 innings and see 21 batters with 6 strikeouts. 

The Grizzlies would chalk up another run in the top of the sixth inning. An RBI single by Conor Owings would drive home Dustin Woodcock from second base bringing Gateway a 3-0 lead. 

In the suspenseful bottom of the eighth inning, Joliet came very close to putting up potentially game-changing runs up on the board, but was a few feet short. With Braxton Davidson on third and Alonzo Jones on first, Brian Parreira came to the plate looking to drive home some runs. On a 1-2 count, Parreira hammered the pitch deep to right field, but the ball was ruled just to the right of the foul pole by the 1st base umpire. After, he grounded out to end the inning.  

The bottom of the ninth proved to be lackluster for the Slammers as a 1-2-3 inning for the Grizzlies kept the Joliet crew's bats silent. 

The Gateway bullpen would be a formidable adversary for the Slammers. In total there were 9 hits by the Slammers with none sending runners across the plate. The Grizzlies would send four pitchers to the mound to face the sluggers from Joliet. The Slammers would leave a total of 10 runners on base. 

Tonight's loss put the Slammers season record at 16-28. Come on out and join us at DuPage Medical Group Field for the next home game on Saturday, July 16th at 6:05 p.m. Saturday's game will be the second game in the Slammers/Grizzlies series and include music in the park. 


About the Joliet Slammers: The Joliet Slammers play at DuPage Medical Group Field in downtown Joliet, Illinois.  They will play their 10th season in 2020.  Visit the Slammers online at www.jolietslammers.com or call the office at 815-722-2287 for more information.  Don’t forget to “Like” the Slammers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jolietslammers or follow them on Twitter at @jolietslammers and Instagram at @jolietslammersofficial