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Beaman Walks Off Mud Monsters as Joliet Takes Wild Contest

Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Beaman Walks Off Mud Monsters as Joliet Takes Wild Contest
Game Recap

Beaman Walks Off Mud Monsters as Joliet Takes Wild Contest

Colton Martinez

Colton Martinez

Director of Broadcasting & Storytelling
Mississippi Mud Monsters

Final: Slammers 11, Mud Monsters 10 Innings: 10 Lead Changes: 6 Record: Mississippi 23-30

JOLIET, Ill. (July 8, 2026) - Wednesday evening's game two featured six lead changes that ultimately saw the Mississippi Mud Monsters (23-30) fall to the Joliet Slammers (22-29) in ten innings.

Monster Notes

Mississippi scored in five different innings, but Joliet walked it off in the 10th.

  • Travis Holt drove in two runs with a clutch double in the 10th inning.
  • Kyle Booker hit his fifth home run of the season and drove in a run.
  • AJ Fritz returned from the 7-Day Injured List and collected three hits, including two doubles.
  • Josh Shelly picked up his first professional hit and first professional RBI.
  • The game featured six lead changes and was Mississippi's third consecutive game to reach the 10th inning.

Campbell Faces Joliet Again

The left-hander returned to the matchup where he made his Frontier League debut.

Almost one month ago on June 9, Tyler Campbell made his Frontier League debut against the Joliet Slammers. The seven-strikeout performance was one of two wins picked up at Trustmark Park in the six-game series.

Now on the road at Slammers Stadium, Campbell looked to post another W against Joliet.

Unlike the opener of the series, it was Joliet punching first, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly to open the scoring against Campbell in the bottom of the first.

Battipaglia reached with a leadoff double and came in to score on a one-out sacrifice fly by Blake Berry.

Mississippi Answers

Tevis and Nathan helped the Mud Monsters grab a 2-1 lead.

The Mud Monsters answered right away in the top of the second frame after AJ Fritz, fresh off the 7-Day Injured List, began things with a double.

Kasten Furr followed with a groundout to push Fritz to third, and Tevis Payne II knocked the run across with a sacrifice fly.

The next batter, Josh Shelly, picked up his first professional hit, a double to reach scoring position, allowing Nathan Rose to pick up an RBI on a base hit to give the Mud Monsters an early 2-1 lead.

Three More in the Third

Booker, Holt, Fritz, Furr and Payne II kept the pressure on.

Joliet tied it right back, however, in their second chance at the plate.

After a one-out walk by Jackson Beaman, Kadon Morton followed with an RBI double to knot things up 2-2.

When the top of the third rolled around, Mississippi did not let its foot off the pedal. A leadoff single by Kyle Booker started things before Travis Holt made it two consecutive singles to put runners on the corners.

One batter later, Fritz picked up his second hit of the game, a single into right field off the glove of Joliet second baseman Tyler Cerny to put Mississippi back up with a 3-2 lead.

Furr followed with a single of his own that took a strange path on Cerny to score Holt and increase the lead to 4-2. Payne II hit his second sacrifice fly of the game to bring across Fritz for the 5-2 Mud Monsters lead.

Booker Goes Deep

The left fielder opened the lead to four with one swing.

Mississippi made it three straight run-scoring innings after Booker drove a 3-1 offering from Joliet starter Blane Zeplin over the right field wall for his fifth blast of the year.

The solo homer increased Mississippi's advantage to four, making it a 6-2 lead for the Mud Monsters.

Joliet responded with a solo home run of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning as Beaman hit one with two outs to make it a 6-3 ballgame.

Joliet Grabs the Lead

A sixth-inning grand slam turned the game around.

Things remained stagnant for a full inning until Campbell ran into trouble in the home half of the sixth frame.

Joliet loaded the bases when Jackson Valera led off with a double, Cerny picked up a single and Cam Suto reached on a free pass.

Campbell got a clutch strikeout of Beaman before making a mistake pitch on a full count to Morton, who crushed a go-ahead grand slam to put Joliet ahead 7-6.

After the bats were silenced for the three innings after Booker's solo blast, Tristan House took over for Campbell.

The southpaw out of Albuquerque, New Mexico finished his outing going six innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out three.

Shelly Ties It

His first professional RBI came in a big spot.

House fired a scoreless bottom of the seventh to get the one-run deficit to the top of the eighth where the Mud Monsters would break through to knot things up.

The inning started with a walk by Payne II who would get all the way to third on heads-up base running after a caught stealing attempt when he tried for second ended up sailing into the outfield.

Shelly picked up his first professional RBI on a sacrifice fly, scoring Payne II to tie it at 7-7.

Fritter Gets It Done

Fritz scored the go-ahead run in the ninth.

Brayden Sanders took the ball from House and tossed a scoreless bottom of the eighth to keep the offense's momentum rolling into the ninth.

Fritz led things off with his second double on the day, blooping a ball that was fair by mere inches. Slater Schield, who entered as a pinch-hitter for Furr in the seventh inning, lifted a fly ball to right that was deep enough to put Fritz ninety feet away from scoring the go-ahead run.

On a 1-1 offering to Shelly, Joliet reliever Shaun Gamelin fired a wild pitch that allowed Fritz to charge home and put the Mud Monsters up 8-7.

Joliet Forces Extras

The Slammers tied it with two outs in the ninth.

Now three outs away, Sanders remained out on the mound and picked up the first two outs when Battipaglia grounded out back to him for the first out and he got Ward looking for the second out.

On a full count to the next man, Berry, Sanders allowed a double hit to left-center field. The speedy Spencer Rich took over for him as a pinch-runner, and Jackson Valera followed with an RBI double on the second pitch he saw to tie the game with an 8-8 score and send the game to extras.

Holt Comes Through

Travis Holt gave Mississippi another lead in the 10th.

With the finale against Florence being an extra-inning bout and last night's contest following the same path, the third consecutive tenth inning Mississippi played got off to a great start.

Ghost runner Nathan Rose was joined on the basepaths by Booker, who drew a one-out walk.

Then five pitches later from Joliet reliever Ben Catrambone, Holt jumped on a 2-2 offering and lined it down the left-field line to score both runners for a 10-8 lead and another go-ahead score.

Beaman Walks It Off

The Slammers won it with a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th.

Mississippi sent Connor Langrell to the hill in replacement of Sanders as Joliet ghost runner Cerny began at second.

Langrell served up a single on the first pitch he threw to put runners on the corners and on the second offering, Beaman blasted a three-run homer into the night, calling game and giving Joliet the 11-10 walk-off victory.

Up Next

The Mud Monsters wrap up their three-game series against the Slammers Thursday evening with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT.

Right-hander Brian Williams (2-5, 6.46) gets the start for Mississippi. At the time of writing, Joliet has not announced a starter.

About the Mississippi Mud Monsters

Baseball Lives Here. It Just Got a Little Weirder.

The Mississippi Mud Monsters are a professional baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, competing in the Frontier League. Built in the mud and rooted in Mississippi, the Mud Monsters believe baseball should be unapologetically fun, a little weird, wildly welcoming, and deeply tied to the place it calls home. Real baseball. Real people. This is swamp-built, Mississippi-made baseball, where the vibes matter just as much as the final score.