Slammers Blow Away Windy City

Brad Netzel drove in four runs and the first-place Joliet Slammers crushed the Windy City ThunderBolts 9-1 Tuesday morning.

Unlike game one of the series, Joliet (30-22) did most of its damage early on Tuesday as it matched a season high with 16 hits for the second straight game.

Netzel took Windy City starter Matt Costello (2-4) deep with one out in the first inning to give Joliet the 1-0 lead. In the second inning the Slammers received some big insurance as Kyle Maunus drew his team-leading 26th walk to get things started.

One out later Sean Estand singled and with two away Ben Ferrell drew a walk to load the bases. That’s when Josh Flores hit a sharp grounder to third that took a funny hop off Nick Kuroczko for an error. Maunus scored on the play to make it 2-0.

Netzel swung at the first pitch for the second time in as many innings and, again, it paid big dividends as he doubled in all three runners.

A 5-0 lead would have been more than enough for Brian Fowler (4-1) and the pitching staff but the Slammers tacked on two more in the third.

David Fox singled to start the frame. After Maunus singled, Bobby Leeper put down a perfect bunt that Kuroczko threw away, allowing Fox to score. After Estand drew a walk, Costello’s day was done.

New pitcher Nick Gaudi got Ben Hewett to ground out, but that scored yet another run as Joliet took a 7-0 lead.

The offense quieted after that as both pitching staffs traded zeros from the fourth through the sixth inning. Fowler held Windy City (27-26) to two hits through the first six frames, both by Brandon Anderson.

The ThunderBolts scored in the seventh as Chris Wade drew a walk and Lee Rubin doubled him to third. A grounder to first that caused Maunus some trouble allowed a run to score, but that would be it for Windy City.

Fowler ended his 102-pitch day on a high note when he struck out the final batter he faced. Jeremy Tietze entered the game to get the final out of the seventh. Fowler went 6.2 innings, scattering three hits, allowing the lone run, walking four and striking out six.

Fox and Maunus added RBI singles in the eighth to complete the scoring for Joliet.

Flores, Netzel, Fox, Maunus, and Leeper all recorded multi-hit games with Netzel and Leeper each getting three hits.

With the win the Slammers even the season series with Windy City at four games each. They go for the sweep Wednesday night as former major leaguer Billy Petrick takes the hill. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.