Miners Drop Doubleheader In Road Sweep
August 18, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. (August 17, 2014) - The Southern Illinois Miners dropped both halves of a doubleheader made necessary by Saturday's game's suspension due to rain, 11-9 in nine innings and 5-3 in seven innings, as River City completed a sweep to end the Miners' nine-game road trip.
Leading 1-0 when the game was suspended in the second inning, River City eventually widened their lead in game one of the doubleheader (the resumption of Saturday's contest) to 11-0 after four innings of play. But the Miners would stage a huge rally, scoring seven runs in the sixth inning on three homers to claw back into the game. After Frank Martinez worked a walk to lead off, Aaron Gates blasted a deep two-run shot to right-center for the Miners' first runs. After a strikeout, Jay Austin singled and Steve Marino followed suit with a deep two-run home run of his own to left-center as the lead was cut to 11-4. Later in the frame, with two runners on and two outs after Matt Jones walked and Marquis Riley singled, Niko Vasquez lifted a three run homer over the left field wall to make it 11-7.
In the ninth, with two outs, it was Gates coming through again with another two-run bomb to right-center field for his season-best fourth hit of the contest, and against former Miner Gabe Shaw to make it 11-9, but the next batter struck out to end the game denying the chance to get the tying run to the plate.
In game two, a bases-loaded walk in the first by Chris Burke and an RBI single with two outs by Ryan Cavan made it 2-0 in the first two innings, as the Miners held the lead for the first time in the series.
But River City came back with a three-run homer as part of a four-run bottom of the second to take the lead back for good. The Miners pieced together a run in the sixth, but could not come back in suffering their third sweep of the season.
The Miners return home on Tuesday, August 19th, to start a six-game homestand against the Frontier Greys at 7:05 p.m. Matt Bywater will pitch for the Miners against the Greys' Mark Belcastro.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the 2012 Frontier League Champions and have been awarded the Frontier League Organization of the Year award three times since their inception. They also set a new Frontier League attendance record in 2007, their inaugural season. For ticket information, please contact the Rent One Park box office at 618-998-8499. For any additional information, visit our website at www.southernillinoisminers.com.
• Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board...
Frontier League Stories from August 18, 2014
- Babin and Lucas Named Frontier League Pitcher and Player of the Week - Normal CornBelters
- Rascals Prepare for Playoffs; Tickets on Sale Now - River City Rascals
- Miners Drop Doubleheader In Road Sweep - Southern Illinois Miners
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
