Miners Halted by Beach Bums on Independence Day
Published on July 4, 2018 under Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Traverse City, MI - The Southern Illinois Miners fell 2-1 to the Traverse City Beach Bums on Independence Day at Wuerfel Park, as Geno Encina pitched a complete game, but the offense struggled as the home team evened up the midweek series Wednesday night.
The Beach Bums scored their first run on back-to-back doubles in the second inning from Alexis Rivera and Luke Lowery to take a 1-0 lead. Later in the game, on a fifth-inning RBI single by Connor Oliver, Traverse City doubled their lead to 2-0 as another pitcher's duel ensued.
Offensively, the Miners were stifled by Beach Bums starter John Havird (3-3), who pitched a shutout through the first eight innings and limited the Miners to only three hits in that span. In the ninth, Romeo Cortina led off with a double and moved to third on a deep flyout by Nolan Earley. After Havird was removed for reliever John Michael Knighton, Chance Shepard put the Miners on the board and broke up the shutout with an RBI single to center field to make it 2-1 and put the tying run on base for Southern Illinois. Joe Dudek then hit a ground ball to second baseman Max Dutto, and after the Beach Bums got the second out of the inning at second base, Dudek was initially called safe at first base as Will Kengor's throw pulled Lowery off the bag. But upon a discussion by the umpires, Dudek was called out, ending the game.
Encina (1-5) went the distance on the mound, allowing just two runs on seven scattered hits with no walks and five strikeouts, but took the hard-luck loss in the Miners' second complete-game effort of the season, with the Miners' win streak snapped at six games.
The Miners will look to win the series in the rubber match on Thursday night at 6:05 p.m. before returning home for the last series before the all-star break, pitching Steven Ridings against the Beach Bums at Wuerfel Park against Traverse City's Matt Murphy.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the Frontier League's winningest franchise since debuting in 2007, winning the 2012 Frontier League Championship as well as division titles in 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016. 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 their inaugural season. For ticket information, contact the box office at (618) 998-8499. For additional information, visit our website at www.siminers.com.
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