Miners Break out Bats to Sweep Washington
July 17, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
MARION, ILL. - The Southern Illinois Miners scored early and often, opening up an 11-0 lead before beating the Washington Wild Things 11-7 on Sunday evening at CONSOL Energy Park, securing their first road series sweep of Washington in franchise history and moving to 20 games over the .500 mark at 37-17.
It all started in the top of the second inning as ALEX DE LEON led off the frame with a walk. After two one-out singles by STEVE MARINO and RILEY MOORE loaded the bases, EDISON SANCHEZ drove home the game's first run with an RBI single to right. Two batters later, with the bases still loaded, AARON GATES worked a walk to force in a run and Washington starter Chase Cunningham (3-5) threw a wild pitch to force in another run before SHANE KENNEDY lined a two-run single to center field for a 5-0 Miners lead. CRAIG MASSEY followed with an RBI single to make it 6-0 Miners.
With JARETT MILLER (4-2) holding the fort on the mound, the Miners tacked on in the middle innings. Massey laced a two-out RBI triple down the right field line in the fourth inning to score FRANCISCO ROSARIO from first to make it 7-0 Miners, and they scored four more times in the sixth inning on an RBI singles by Massey and NOLAN EARLEY followed by a two-run double by Marino to make the score 11-0 Southern Illinois.
Washington would respond in the late innings, getting on the board in the bottom of the sixth with a single run and following that with a trio of runs in the seventh and the ninth, but the hole was too deep to dig out of as the Miners swept the weekend series to kick off their post-all-star break schedule. Marino finished with four hits in going 4-for-5 with two RBIs, while Massey went 3-for-4 with three runs driven in. Kennedy also went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs as Southern Illinois increased their lead in the West Division standings to 5.5 games over the Evansville Otters.
The Miners will be off on Monday night before continuing their road trip on Tuesday with the first game of a three-game set against the East Division-leading Joliet Slammers at Silver Cross Field at 7:05 p.m. RICK TEASLEY will take the mound for the series opener in the battle of first-place teams in the Frontier League standings.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the back-to-back Frontier League East Division Champions and the 2012 Frontier League Champions. 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 2007, their inaugural season. For ticket information, contact the Rent One Park box office at (618) 998-8499.
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Frontier League Stories from July 17, 2016
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- Miners Break out Bats to Sweep Washington - Southern Illinois Miners
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- Freedom Beat Slammers in Late Innings - Florence Y'alls
- Slammers Drop Series Finale to the Freedom - Joliet Slammers
- Gateway D. Lake Erie Crushers, 5-1 - Lake Erie Crushers
- Boomers Take Game Two, Force Rubber Match on Sunday - River City Rascals
- Bums Shocked by Otters in Ninth - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Miners Use Late Rally to Best Wild Things, Clinch Series - Southern Illinois Miners
- Freedom Drop Heartbreaker to Slammers - Florence Y'alls
- Washington Falls to Southern Illinois 4-3 - Washington Wild Things
- Normal's Late Rally Sinks ThunderBolts in 7-3 Loss - Windy City ThunderBolts
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