Miners Drop Heartbreaking Doubleheader at Evansville
July 31, 2021 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Ian Walters of the Southern Illinois Miners
(Southern Illinois Miners)
Marion, IL - The Southern Illinois Miners lost both halves of a doubleheader to the Evansville Otters on Saturday, falling 2-1 in the first game in seven innings before a 6-5 home run derby defeat in the nightcap.
The first game featured a pitcher's duel between Zac Westcott (7-2) and Polo Portela (7-1), with both starters going the distance in the game. The Otters were able to score single runs in the second and third innings on RBI hits by Andrew Penner and Riley Krane to take a 2-0 lead early. Yeltsin Gudiño then hit a solo home run leading off in the top of the fourth to make it a 2-1 game, but Southern Illinois was not able to get closer in dropping the second game of the series. Westcott allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings for the "quality start" in defeat.
In the second game, it was the Miners taking the early lead- Ariel Sandoval led off the second inning against former Miner Marty Anderson with an infield hit, and stole both second and third base in the inning. When he stole third, the throw from catcher Dakota Phillips sailed wide for an error, allowing Sandoval to score to make it 1-0 Southern Illinois.
The lead held thanks to Kaleb Schmidt, who struck out five batters in the first three innings to keep the Otters off the board. But in the fourth, a leadoff error on a dropped pop-up off the bat of Krane eventually led to two unearned runs scoring on an RBI double by Andretty Cordero and a sacrifice fly by Jose Pujols, making it 2-1 Evansville.
Southern Illinois then rallied to tie the game in the sixth, using a two-out walk by Gianfranco Wawoe followed by an RBI triple by Ian Walters to make it 2-2. The game would go to extra innings, with Nolan Earley's sacrifice fly plating the automatic runner in the International Tiebreaker for a 3-2 lead, and the Otters tying it on an RBI double by J.R. Davis, sending the contest to a home run derby.
In the derby, with the Miners leading 3-2 after the first round of hitters, Earley hit two home runs as the second hitter, but it was ruled that he batted out of order, eliminating the home runs and keeping it 3-2. Dakota Phillips then hit three home runs to give the Otters a 5-3 advantage, which Earley answered with two of his own to keep the derby going at 5-5. Cordero's first-pitch home run as the final Evansville hitter, however, allowed the Otters to walk off with the doubleheader sweep.
The Miners will look to avoid a four-game sweep in the series finale on Sunday, August 1, at Bosse Field. Stevie Ledesma will start the game for the Miners on the mound against the Otters' Ryan O'Reilly at 5:05 p.m.
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 Ian Walters of the Southern Illinois Miners |
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