FL Southern Illinois Miners

Augustine, Miners 3 Blank RiverHawks 3-0

Published on August 10, 2011 under Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release


MARION, Ill. - The Miners shutout the RiverHawks, 3-0, Wednesday night at Rent One Park. Joe Augustine threw five scoreless innings and grabbed the win, moving his record to 3-1 in 2011. Lefty Chris Nyman made the start for Rockford and took the loss after working seven innings. Clayton Dill closed the game out for his fifth save of the season.

Augustine worked allowed just three hits, walked one batter and struck out one batter Wednesday night. He allowed a runner to reach third base with nobody out in the first two innings, but pitched out of it on both occasions without suffering any damage. At one point, he retired nine hitters in a row. The bullpen combined to allow one hit in four scoreless innings to record the Miners sixth shutout victory of the season.

The Miners took the lead with a rally in the second inning. Sean Harrell drew a one-out walk. Then with two outs, Boomer Blanchard drove a ball down the right field line. Instead of playing the ball off one hop, Rockford rightfielder Evan Button failed to make the grab on a do-or-die diving attempt. Harrell scored from first base as the ball rolled to the wall. Blanchard trucked into third base with an RBI triple to give the Miners an early 1-0 lead.

Southern Illinois tacked on another run in the fifth inning when Gordie Gronkowski singled home Eric Suttle with two outs, extending the lead to 2-0. Suttle scored from second base on the infield single, which was hit into the hole on the left side of the infield. It was Gronkowski's second RBI in a Miners uniform and his second in as many nights.

Quigley worked out of a bases loaded jam to pitch a scoreless sixth inning for the Miners. He struck out the first two batters he faced. However, Rockford threatened after a double by Jake Eigsti and an intentional walk was issued to Jason James. The Miners left-handed reliever then walked Matt Greener to load the bases before striking out Kevin Smith to end the RiverHawks threat. Ben Shivers relieved Quigley with two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth innings.

Rockford starter Chris Nyman allowed two runs on just four hits, but walked six batters and struck out five on his way to his second loss of the year. He threw 117 pitches in seven innings.

The Miners added one more insurance run in the eighth inning on a double steal attempt. With runners at the corners, Nate Hall was tagged out in a rundown, but not before pinch runner Cannon Lester scored from third on the play to extend Southern Illinois' advantage to 3-0.

With the victory and a Normal CornBelters loss, the Miners moved their magic number to 13 games to clinch the wild card in the West Division. Augustine became the third Miner to record 20 career victories with Southern Illinois, joining Ryan Bird (28) and Brett Scarpetta (24).

Thursday the Miners are seeking their seventh sweep of the season as lefty Shawn Joy (5-3, 3.59) takes the mound against former Miner and current Rockford righty Brett Scarpetta (6-4, 5.63). It will be a 7:05 p.m. first pitch from Rent One Park on an Xtreme Theme Thursday, Great Outdoors Night.

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