Joliet Slammers Fall 7-4 To Lake Erie On Tuesday

JOLIET, IL —The Lake Erie Crushers were true to their name, hitting four home runs Tuesday night in a 7-4 win over the Joliet Slammers at DuPage Medical Group Field.

Two Slammers did hit their first home runs for the organization, but it wasn't enough as Joliet dropped its third straight and fell to 21-39 overall. The Slammers are in last place in the Frontier League's Central Division. Entering Wednesday night's game, Joliet was 13 games behind the division-leading Schaumburg Boomers (34-26).

Lake Erie (29-31) entered Wednesday night's contest in Joliet, five games behind the Boomers in the division.

Tuesday night's game started promisingly for the Slammers, who built a 2-0 first-inning lead as second baseman Scott Holzwasser scored on a wild pitch and first baseman Braxton Davidson came home on a dropped third strike.

In the fourth inning, the Crushers took a 3-2 lead on a go-ahead homer by Steve Passatempo, who also had an RBI single in the second.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Slammers tied the score 3-3 on a solo homer by catcher Jordan Rathbone. It was the first Slammers homer for Rathbone, who played collegiately at Central Florida.

An inning later, Slammers outfielder Terry Daniels hit his first homer with the club.

However, Lake Erie's bats were just too powerful on the evening as Karl Ellison hit a 2-run homer and Passatempo and Steve Kraft added solo shots.

Slammers lefty Logan Lyle, who pitched in college at South Florida, started the game and got the loss, pitching 5 innings and giving up six runs, nine hits and walking three.

Through 60 games, third baseman Brylie Ware was leading the Slammers with a .268 average. He has four homers and 18 RBIs. Ware played collegiately at Oklahoma.

Davidson, the a 2014 first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves, has a team-high 11 homers and 26 RBIs, though he's batting just .238.

After facing the Crushers on Wednesday, Joliet will close out the series against Lake Erie at 7:05 p.m. Thursday. According to JolietSlammers.com, it will be Thirsty Thursday/Ladies Night, and the first 100 fans will receive a free pint glass courtesy of Lakeshore Beverages.