Saturday night’s must-win playoff game against Evansville couldn’t have started any better for the Slammers.
The second inning couldn’t have gone any worse.
Slammers left-hander Chris Rice struck out the side in the first, but Evansville scored eight runs in the second, all with two outs.
The big inning, fueled by a missed double play and an infield hit, propelled the Otters to an 8-5 win at Silver Cross Field that ended the Slammers’ division championship season.
Joliet took the best-of-five series opener in Evansville before the Otters won three in a row to advance to the Frontier League championship series against River City.
“It’s sad,” second baseman Carter Bell said. “It’s unfortunate that it ended that way because we felt we had a lot of good baseball to go. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
The Slammers rallied to make Saturday’s game close despite the early 8-0 hole. They scored once in the third and two runs each in the fourth and seventh to make it an 8-5 deficit.
“We had guys who battled to the end,” shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez said. “I think this game was kind of an example of the season, battling back. We didn’t quit.”
Bell had an RBI single in the third and an RBI double in the seventh. Bell, the team’s leading hitter, returned to the lineup as designated hitter despite a hamstring injury that sidelined him in Friday’s 10-4 loss.
“That’s exactly the kind of team we are, we don’t give up,” Bell said. “We keep fighting to the end. Even if it looked like we were going to be out of it, we battled because we had a good, close-knit group of guys.”
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The somewhat abrupt end to the Slammers’ postseason didn’t overshadow what the team accomplished in the 96-game regular season. Joliet held first place in the East Division since June 27 and finished 51-45, nine games better than last year.
Rodriguez played every game the past two seasons for the Slammers.
“It was a fun year,” he said. “We didn’t accomplish the goal we set out to accomplish. It’s a sudden end, but that’s the way baseball is. That’s the way the game goes. A lot of credit to Evansville. They really came out and they gave us a tough series.”
Manager Jeff Isom, in his third season with the Slammers, praised his club for Saturday’s comeback.
“Unfortunately, we gave up eight in the second, but it was early enough that we could keep fighting back,” Isom said. “Our guys were inspired. They just beat us with that eight-run second.”
Zach Hirsch (7 1/3 innings, 2 runs, 9 strikeouts) relieved Rice and kept Evansville from putting the game out of reach.
“He threw the ball extremely well to give us an opportunity to try to come back,” Isom said.
Mike Garza was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Rodriguez, Bell and Jake Gronsky each contributed two hits.
“I hope we hold our heads high in the offeseason and everybody comes back working hard,” Bell said.
“The thing that sucks is you stop playing,” Rodriguez said. “That’s probably the toughest thing, not being able to come here. Be in the locker room with the guys, the camaraderie. That’s what you definitely miss the most.”
Tim Tierney is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.