Miners Come Back to Top River City
May 19, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. (May 19, 2015) - The Southern Illinois Miners used a four-run sixth inning and great offensive days from Aaron Gates, Michael Earley and Wendell Fairley to score a comeback victory against the River City Rascals at Rent One Park in their home opener in 2015.
Southern Ilinois would jump out to an early 1-0 lead in the first as Gates, who reached on a leadoff two-base error on Rascal second baseman Hector Crespo, was driven in by Fairley's single. River City would come back with two runs of their own in the third inning before Fairley again drove in Gates with a two-out single to right field to knot the game at 2-2.
River City would go ahead with two more runs the very next half inning. Thanks to an error and a passed ball, only one of the runs would be earned against Rick Teasley (1-0), who settled down in the next two frames in the fifth and sixth to hold the Rascals off the board.
As he did, the Miners broke out offensively. Gates doubled to lead off the fifth before a single by Frank Martinez set up Earley's RBI single to pull the Miners within a run at 4-3. Against the Rascals bullpen in the sixth, the Miners exploded for four runs. Gates smacked a two-run double down the right field line in the frame to give the Miners the lead once more and Earley followed two batters later with a two-run double of his own.
The Southern Illinois bullpen would hold the lead, with Will Rankin nailing down his third save with a scoreless ninth inning to extend his streak to 27 1/3 consecutive frames without giving up a run. Gates reached base four times and had two RBIs while also hitting two doubles and scoring four runs for the Miners, while Earley was never retired by River City, walking twice with a double, single and three RBIs of his own.
Fairley also finished 2-for-4 with his two RBIs as the Miners won the opener at Rent One Park. They will go for the series win on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m., starting reigning Frontier League Pitcher of the Year Matt Bywater against Dane Stone and the Rascals.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the 2014 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. For any additional information, visit our website at www.southernillinoisminers.com.
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