Miners Edge Wild Things to Clinch Series, Win Seventh Straight
Published on July 23, 2016 under Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
MARION, ILL. - The Southern Illinois Miners used a four-run fifth inning to break a 2-2 tie on Saturday night against the Washington Wild Things at Rent One Park before warding off the visitors late en route to a 6-5 win, the team's seventh in a row to move to 41-17 on the season and 5-0 this year against Washington.
The Miners again scored in the first inning, this time on a sacrifice fly by NOLAN EARLEY for a 1-0 advantage. Washington would tie the score in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by Logan Uxa at 1-1, but the Miners got the run back and re-took the lead in the bottom half of the frame on SHANE KENNEDY's two-out RBI single by a count of 2-1. The score remained 2-1 until the top of the fourth, when Ricky Rodriguez reached on a two-base error, moved to third on a passed ball and then scored on another sac-fly, this time by David Popkins, for a 2-2 score.
In the bottom of the fifth, after a single by AARON GATES and a double by Kennedy, Gates was thrown out at the plate trying to come home on a fly ball to center field. But the Miners responded, as after a walk by ALEX DE LEON, Earley gave the Miners the lead again on an RBI single.
Three pitches later, STEVE MARINO blasted his 12th homer of the season, a three-run shot, to increase the lead to 6-4.
Washington would come back in the late innings, as BROOKS TRUJILLO surrendered a two-run homer in the seventh to Uxa and Popkins' solo shot in the eighth made the score 6-5. In the ninth inning, Washington would load the bases against ADAM LOPEZ with two outs, but he struck out Jamodrick McGruder on a slider to end the ballgame as Southern Illinois remained perfect after the all-star break and clinched the weekend series.
Earley went 1-for-3 with two RBIs while Marino drove in three and Kennedy went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored for the Miners, with Trujillo (1-3) earning his first professional win on the mound with a career-high six and two-third innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts. Lopez notched his fifth save in as many chances as well.
The Miners will go for the season-series sweep of the Wild Things and their eighth win in a row on Sunday at 5:05 p.m., with RICK TEASLEY taking the hill for Southern Illinois against Washington's Brian O'Keefe.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the back-to-back 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.
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