Parish Dominates in Debut, Miners Shut out Wild Things
July 20, 2017 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Miners got seven shutout innings from starter Matt Parish in his debut with the club, helping a go-ahead RBI single in the fourth inning by Anthony Critelli stand up in a 1-0 shutout victory over the Washington Wild Things at Rent One Park in Marion to end a five-game losing streak.
The Miners had runners on base in every inning of the contest with the Wild Things, but could not break through in the first three innings against Washington starter Brandon Bixler (0-2). But they bunched three hits together in the fourth inning, with Nolan Earley singling with one out for the Miners' first hit of the game, and Ben Moore reaching on an infield hit two batters later with two outs. That set up Critelli, who knocked a single into center field and scored Earley from second base as he slid just around the tag at home from Kyle Pollock for a 1-0 Miners lead.
That was all Parish (1-0) needed. In the fourth inning, after permitting three singles but no runs in the first three frames, he walked Kane Sweeney leading off. The New Jersey-native retired the next two hitters, however, including Hector Roa on a "strike-em-out, throw-em-out" double play to end the frame and start an impressive streak of 11 consecutive batters retired to end his outing. Overall, Parish allowed three hits and one walk with four strikeouts in seven innings to get the win in his first game in a Southern Illinois uniform.
The Miners' bullpen would also stand tall, as Kyle Grana and John Werner combined for flawless innings in the eighth and ninth with the Southern Illinois pitching staff retiring the final 17 batters they faced in the game. Seven of the last nine Washington hitters were retired on strikeouts with Grana fanning the side in the eighth and Werner striking out two in the ninth for his 11th save of the season.
The Miners will go for a series win on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. back at Rent One Park, with Damon Proctor drawing the starting assignment on the mound against Washington southpaw Brian O'Keefe.
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