Comeback Falls Short as Otters Sweep Miners
June 24, 2018 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Evansville, IN - The Southern Illinois Miners allowed six runs in the bottom of the second inning on Sunday evening at Bosse Field in Evansville, and despite scoring three times in the ninth, fell short in a 7-4 defeat against the Evansville Otters, who swept the weekend series.
In the bottom of the second inning, a pair of leadoff walks by starter Austin Dubsky led to a crooked frame, as after an RBI single by Mike Rizzitello and a bases-loaded walk by David Cronin made the score 2-0, Ryan Long's grand slam home run extended the advantage to 6-0, putting the Miners in a deep hole.
Aaron Rozek came on in relief of Dubsky (2-1), and held the line for the Miners over five innings, permitting only one run on two hits and one walk with a pair of strikeouts. Offensively, the Miners managed just one run off of Austin Nicely (3-2), on a two-out RBI double by Chance Shepard in the sixth inning that made the score 6-1. The Otters would answer on a Rizzitello sac fly in the same inning to make the score 7-1, a score that held until a late push by Southern Illinois in the ninth.
With one out, Romeo Cortina singled and Ben Moore was hit by a pitch. After a long, ten-pitch at-bat, Harrison Bragg doubled down the right field line to make the score 7-2, and Luis Jean reached on an error by Toby Thomas at shortstop which scored Moore to make it 7-3. Austin Homan followed with a sacrifice fly to deep left field to get the Miners within 7-4, but they would get no closer in suffering the loss, their ninth in their last 11 games overall, dropping them to 18-18 on the season.
The Miners return home to Rent One Park to begin a six-game homestand on Tuesday night, June 26th, against the Florence Freedom at 7:05 p.m.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the Frontier League's winningest franchise since debuting in 2007, winning the 2012 Frontier League Championship as well as division titles in 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016. They have been awarded the Frontier League Organization of the Year award three times since their inception, and also set a new Frontier League attendance record in their inaugural season. For ticket information, contact the box office at (618) 998-8499. For additional information, visit our website at www.siminers.com.
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Frontier League Stories from June 24, 2018
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