Late Rally Thwarts Miners Again In Loss
Published on August 22, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Miners dropped their second straight contest in which they had a lead after six innings, as the Florence Freedom scored five runs in the top of the seventh while the Miners got within one run twice but could not tie the game in a 6-5 defeat at Rent One Park on Friday.
The Miners took the lead on a sacrifice fly in the second inning by Steve Marino and added to that lead on another sacrifice fly by Aaron Gates in the fourth inning to lead 2-0. Meanwhile, Rick Teasley (9-5) was handling the Freedom's lineup with relative ease. After getting a big double play to end a bases-loaded threat in the first, the left-hander allowed just two hits through the next four innings.
But for the second night in a row the opposition came all the way back in the seventh. After a double and a hit batter, a three-run homer gave Florence a 3-2 lead. After another hit batter and an RBI double, Hunter Ackerman relieved Teasley but the inherited run scored on a sac fly to make it 5-2 at the stretch.
Phil Butler would respond with a two-run homer after Marino's leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh to cut it to 5-4. The Miners would have several chances in the eighth and ninth to tie the game, as the first two batters reached on singles in the eighth, putting the tying run in scoring position with no one out, but Southern Illinois could not score.
In the top of the ninth, with Stew Brase pitching, the Miners thought they had the first batter of the inning out on a grounder back to the pitcher, but the ball was called foul. That would prove to be huge, as the batter reached, and ended up scoring to make it 6-4. In the bottom of the inning, Tyler Booth doubled over the center fielder's head and after two outs and an intentional walk, Frank Martinez singled to make it 6-5. But the next batter would strike out with the tying run at third to end the game.
The Miners will look to bounce back from the defeat on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Miguel Ramirez will pitch for the Miners against Florence's Jorge Marban.
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