Miners Erupt Late to Win Seventh Straight
June 11, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Miners were knotted at 3-3 with the River City Rascals through six innings at CarShield Field in O'Fallon on Saturday night before the offense exploded with six runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth in an 11-3 Miners win, their seventh in a row and eighth in their last nine.
With 32 combined hits in the game, including at least one by every player in the starting lineup for both teams, both Rick Teasley and River City starter Joe Scanio operated with men on base in nearly every inning. The Rascals struck first on a sacrifice fly by Griff Gordon followed by a solo home run by Kyle Gaedele in the second inning. But the Miners would rally to take the lead as Steve Marino hit a two-out RBI single in the fourth to make it 2-1. Next inning, Aaron Gates blasted his fifth homer of the season (and fourth on the road trip), a go-ahead two-run shot to dead center field to make it 3-2 Miners.
The Rascals ended up with 12 hits off of Teasley (3-1) in six innings, but mustered only three runs on the game, the third of which coming on Willi Martin's game-tying solo homer in the sixth inning to make it 3-3. In the next half inning, however, with no one on base and one out, an error by Martin at first allowed Gates to reach, and it ended up opening the floodgates on an eventual six-run inning for the Miners.
Julius Gaines followed the error with a double to put men at second and third. The Rascals then intentionally walked Craig Massey to bring up Alex De Leon with the bases loaded. The slugger hit a rocket that ate up the third baseman and got into left field, giving the Miners a 5-3 lead when Gates and Gaines crossed the plate. Scanio (2-2). was left in to face Nolan Earley, and he promptly blew the game open with a three-run home run (his third of the season) over the high right field fence, chasing Scanio and giving Southern Illinois an 8-3 advantage. Two batters later, against Will Schierholz, Shane Kennedy crushed a solo shot of his own, his first home run as a pro, to make it 9-3.
In the eighth, the Miners did not let up, and added on to their lead when Massey reached on an infield hit with two outs. De Leon followed with a monster, no-doubt, two-run homer, his fourth of the season and second in as many nights, to left for the 11-3 final score. Four relievers out of the bullpen combined to hold the Rascals off the board in the final three frames.
With the win, the Miners secured their seventh victory in a row, the longest winning streak for the team since winning nine straight from May to June of 2014. Southern Illinois pounded out 17 hits in the contest to set a new season-high while the 11 runs scored matched a season-best. Kennedy finished 4-for-5 on the night, while Massey (2-for-4), De Leon (2-for-5 with four RBIs), Marino (2-for-5 with one RBI) and Earley (2-for-5 with three RBIs) all enjoyed multi-hit games. The Miners pounded four homers as a team, a season-best, as they clinched at least a split of the four-game weekend series.
The Miners will go for the series win in a doubleheader on Sunday in O'Fallon beginning at 1:05 p.m. Dyllon Nuernberg will get the start for the Miners in game one opposed by River City right-hander Zeb Sneed, with a Miners starter still to be named going against former Miner Joe Pavlovich in game two.
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