Miners Drop Heartbreaker in Extras
Published on July 10, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. (July 9, 2015) - The Southern Illinois Miners and Traverse City Beach Bums battled each other to a scoreless draw through 11 innings on Thursday night at Wuerfel Park in Traverse City, with the Miners finally breaking through in the top of the 12th inning before surrendering that lead and losing 3-2 on a walk-off two-run home run, settling for a two-games-to-one series win over the Beach Bums on the road.
Matt Bywater was stellar for Southern Illinois, as the reigning Frontier League Pitcher of the Year pitched eight shutout innings, allowing seven hits, walking none and striking out ten. All seven hits against him came in the first four innings. After Brandon Jacobs led off the fourth with a single, the left-hander slammed the door the rest of the way, retiring the final 15 batters he faced in the contest.
Unfortunately, the Beach Bums' staff was also stout and the game went to extra innings. The Miners had the bases loaded and one out in the eighth as well as the 11th, but did not score either time. The Beach Bums had the winning run in scoring position in both the tenth and 11th as well, but both bullpens stood tall, with Evan Mott, Eric Green and Pete Perez doing the job for the Miners and Andrew Brockett holding Southern Illinois off the scoreboard for Traverse City.
In the 12th, with the international tiebreaker in effect for the second inning in a row, the Miners had an automatic runner at second base to start the inning. After a groundout, Southern Illinois broke through on the scoreboard with back-to-back RBI doubles by Michael Earley and Niko Vasquez to take a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the frame. But with Traverse City also getting an automatic runner at second to start the frame, Greg Harisis doubled to deep center field, making it 2-1 before Jake Rhodes hit a walk-off two-run homer off Perez to win it for the Beach Bums.
The Miners dropped to one game back of Traverse City, tied with Evansville for second place in the East Division standings entering play on Friday, when they continue their six-game road trip to conclude the first half before the all-star break against the Joliet Slammers at 7:05 p.m. Adam Lopez will pitch the series opener for Southern Illinois against Joliet's Andrew Strenge.
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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