Slammers Squeak By Grizzlies

Nothing is ever easy for the first place Slammers but they survived another thriller at Silver Cross Field Tuesday night.

Every player in the lineup got a hit and the Slammers held off a late rally by the Gateway Grizzlies to win by a score of 7-6 in front of 3,853 fans at the yard.

With the win the Slammers matched their season high of 12 games over .500 and also matched their biggest lead in the division as they are now 4.5 games up on the Traverse City Beach Bums in the East.

Leading by one in the eighth, two consecutive errors by the Slammers put Brian Smith in a big jam. But Smith kept his cool and got a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Landon Hernandez. The next batter popped out and the Slammers were out of the jam.

The ninth inning was where it got really interesting. Closer Ryan Quigley surrendered a double that was just beyond the reach of a diving Josh Flores in center. Then a bunt attempt resulted in a single when Quigley fell down trying to get the ball.

With runners at the corners and nobody out, the one run lead looked like it was in big trouble. But the Quigley got Kent Gerst to line a ball right to Hector Pellot. Pellot caught the ball and fired back to Maunus at first for the double play.

Quigley proceeded to strike out DJ Fitzgerald to end the game and secure his league leading 21st save.

It was the team’s 22nd comeback win as the Grizzlies scored two off starter Tommy Mendoza in the first.

The Slammers look to clinch the series Wednesday night as “Captain” Jake Renshaw takes the mound.