A Junior Arrojo two-RBI triple deflected off the glove of Bobby Leeper in the eighth inning and the Florence Freedom (6-4) defeated the Joliet Slammers (5-5) by a final score of 6-3 Tuesday night.
The Slammers took advantage of a Freedom error in the second. Kris Kasarjian reached after shortstop Chris Curley double clutched on a grounder and Kasarjian beat the throw to first. A perfect hit-and-run single to right by Kyle Maunus put runners at the corners with nobody down. One out later Lee Rubin drove a ball to deep right for a sacrifice fly and the Slammers grabbed the early 1-0 edge.
But Florence responded right away. With one out in the third Cole Miles continued his hot hitting by tripling over the head of Devin Shepherd in center. Then with two down Jimmy Baker came up big with a sharp single to left. Kasarjian nearly made a great sliding catch but was only able to trap the ball. Kevin Crimmel got out of the inning without any further damage.
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Great defense continues to be the Slammers’ calling card. In the fourth inning second baseman Hector Pellot made an amazing diving catch on the shortstop side of second base. Crimmel would send the side down in order that inning. The newest Slammer Brad Netzel also showed his defensive abilities with a sliding catch in shallow left in the sixth.
The score remained tied at one until the top of the seventh inning. New pitcher Jeremy Tietze walked the lead-off man. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second. Then Cole Miles singled to right field; Devin Shepherd bobbled the ball and Junior Holloway came around to score to make it 2-1 Freedom.
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Joliet responded in the bottom half of the seventh as Kyle Maunus drew a one-out walk. That’s when Nick Ochoa stepped to the plate and delivered the first homer in Slammers’ history at Silver Cross Field. The round-tripper gave the Slammers the 3-2 lead.
Unfortunately the lead would not last long as another lead-off walk hurt the Slammers in the eighth. With one out, a catcher’s interference call put two aboard. Then with two down Arrojo hit a drive to deep center; Leeper had a beat on it but it deflected off his glove and two runs scored.
Florence would tack on two more in the top of the ninth with a two-run home run off the bat of Stephen Shults.
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