JOLIET, IL – Mike Recchia threw his fifth complete game of the season Sunday afternoon as the ThunderBolts defeated the Joliet Slammers 3-0 at Silver Cross Field.
Recchia and Steven Maxwell matched each other pitch for pitch early on as the game remained scoreless through six innings. The Bolts had just four hits while the Slammers only had three.
It was not until there were two outs in the seventh that Windy City was able to break through, Zach Aakhus and Brandon Decker hit back-to-back singles to keep the inning alive. Decker stole second and when he took off, Aakhus bolted for home, making it safely for the first run.
Windy City cemented their victory with a two-run eighth inning. Travis Weaver singled and Mike Torres doubled, putting two men in scoring position before C.J. Gillman’s base hit scored them both and gave them a 3-0 lead.
That was more than enough for Recchia who allowed Patrick Norris to reach third base in the first inning but only faced one batter the rest of the game with a runner in scoring position. He struck out eight, increasing his league-leading total to 114. The shutout was Recchia’s fourth, twice as many as any other team in the Frontier League has.
Recchia improved to a league-best 9-2 with the win and Maxwell was the tough-luck loser, dropping to 5-7.
The series concludes Monday evening in Joliet. Game three will start at 7:05 at Silver Cross Field and Dustin Williams (8-4, 4.83) will get the start for the ThunderBolts. Joliet will counter with Jacob Sanchez (3-1, 2.03). The broadcast can be heard on sportsjuice.com.
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