Slammers Out 'Fox' Miners

A 2-0 deficit against the best pitching staff in the Frontier League could have been too much for some teams to overcome.

But the comeback kids pulled off their 11th come-from-behind victory of the season Wednesday night as the Joliet Slammers (19-17) beat the Southern Illinois Miners (24-12) by a final score of 5-4.

The Miners scored the first run of the game in the second inning against Slammers starter Jake Renshaw (4-2). Sean Coughlin got things going with a single. He stole second and went to third on a deep fly ball to right. Ken Gregory singled him home and the Slammers found themselves an early hole.

Eric Suttle homered in the third to extend the Southern Illinois lead to 2-0.

The Slammers finally broke through against Shawn Joy (3-3) in the fourth. Josh Flores singled, stole second, and advanced to third when the throw went into center.

A Kyle Maunus sacrifice fly drove in Flores to cut the deficit to one. With two outs and nobody on, Sean Estand doubled. That’s when David Fox introduced himself to the Miners with a triple to drive in Estand and tie the game.

Fox wasn’t done. After Maunus doubled to start the sixth, Fox blasted his first professional home run to give the Slammers a 4-2 lead.

Meanwhile Renshaw turned in another strong outing to pick up the win as he went seven innings, scattering six hits, giving up two runs, walking four and striking out five.

Joliet got a huge insurance run in the seventh. With one out, Flores doubled. Then Erik Lis singled on the infield and an error allowed Flores to score to make the score 5-2.

After Brian Smith tossed a scoreless eighth, Joliet native Ryan Quigley had everyone on the edge of their seats in the ninth. He loaded the bases and gave up a two-out two RBI single to make the score 5-4. But he got the next batter to ground out to nail down his 11th save in as many attempts this season.

With the win the Slammers stay 2.5 games back of the Windy City ThunderBolts in the East Division. They take the field against the Miners again Thursday night at 7:05 p.m.