Slammers' Sticks Silent, Succumb to Rockford

Matt Zoltak (2-1) went eight strong innings and the Joliet Slammers (18-16) made three errors as they fell to the Rockford RiverHawks (13-22) by a final score of 4-1 Sunday afternoon.

Bobby Leeper started the game off on the right foot when he smacked a solo lead-off home run in the first on the eighth pitch he saw in the at bat.

But after that the Slammers offense stalled and Rockford took the lead in the fourth.

Brian Fowler had held Rockford hitless through the first three innings until Jeremy Hamilton hit a chopper off Fowler’s glove for the first hit of the game. Two outs later what appeared to be a routine grounder to end the inning was ruled catcher’s interference and Rockford had two on with two down.

That’s when Carlos Dominguez hit his first home run of the season to make it 3-1 Rockford. The game did feature one defensive highlight for the Slammers as Bobby Leeper gunned down David Cooper trying to stretch a single into a double in the fifth.

The RiverHawks tacked on another unearned run in the seventh. Dominguez got things rolling with a single. Two outs and a walk later, a grounder to Pellot at second was booted and the RiverHawks had a 4-1 edge.

Leeper went 3-4 in the game but the only other hit for the Slammers belonged to Erik Lis, who had a single. No one drew a walk and the RiverHawks struck out 10 batters.