Miners' Rally Fall Short on Independence Day
July 4, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, IL - The Southern Illinois Miners were able to rally back from a three-run deficit in the eighth inning to make it a one-run ballgame in the ninth, and got the tying run on base in the ninth but could not complete the comeback, falling 4-3 to the Normal CornBelters on Saturday night at Rent One Park.
The Miners led right away against true rookie right-hander Robert Baroniel in the first, as Aaron Gates led off with a triple and scored on Michael Earley's sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. Miguel Ramirez (1-5), making his first start since coming off the disabled list, held the fort until the fourth inning, getting out of a couple jams against the CornBelters order before Mark Micowski hit a three-run homer to give the visitors a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Jon Klein was masterful out of the bullpen in relief of Ramirez, pitching five innings and giving up only three hits and one unearned run to keep the Miners in the game. His only run, however, proved to be the winning run as Pat McKenna reached on an error and scored in the top of the seventh inning, making the score 4-1.
The Miners got back on the board with a rally against Cole Brocker in the eighth. Gates led off with a walk, Earley singled and Niko Vasquez walked to load the bases with no one out. After a strikeout for the first out, Joe Rapp hit an RBI single to right to make it 4-2. Jerrud Sabourin then hit a sacrifice fly after an eight-pitch at-bat to advance all baserunners and make the score 4-3. With the tying run at third, Race Parmenter got the final out, however, and the Miners trailed by one. Gates got on with two outs in the ninth, but the Miners could not bring him home in suffering the series loss.
Southern Illinois will look to salvage the finale of the series on Sunday evening at 5:05 p.m., starting Adam Lopez against Normal's Kevin Johnson.
• Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board...
Frontier League Stories from July 4, 2015
- CornBelters Hold off Miners for 6th Straight Win - Normal CornBelters
- Miners' Rally Fall Short on Independence Day - Southern Illinois Miners
- Grizzlies Falter in Late Innings to Drop Homestand Finale - Gateway Grizzlies
- Aviators Fall Short in Rally vs. Beach Bums - Rockford Aviators
- Beach Bums Win 2-1 Saturday - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Lack of Firepower - Lake Erie Crushers
- Evansville Holds off Boomers - Schaumburg Boomers
- Garrett and Mende Homer as Wild Things Split Doubleheader - Washington Wild Things
- Fourth of July Not Friendly to Freedom - Florence Y'alls
- Slammers Drop Game Two to Wild Things, 2-1 - Joliet Slammers
- ThunderBolts Beat Lake Erie 7-0 - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Garza's Five Hits Leads Slammers to Win - Joliet Slammers
- July 4 Florence Freedom Game Notes - Florence Y'alls
- Rascals Lose in Hanson's Debut - River City Rascals
- Evansville Otters Game Preview - Evansville Otters
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.
