Miners Rally Late to Stun Slammers
May 26, 2018 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Joliet, IL - The Southern Illinois Miners saw a 3-0 lead slip away when the Joliet Slammers scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but rallied back to tie the score in the eighth, then go ahead and eventually win the game in the ninth inning on John Holland's RBI single by a final score of 5-4 at Joliet Route 66 Stadium on Friday night.
The Miners took the lead in the top of the second inning when Joe Dudek clubbed his third home run of the season out to right field, extending his hit streak to eight games in a row and making it 1-0. In the fifth inning, Southern Illinois loaded the bases with no one out when Ben Moore was hit by a pitch, Romeo Cortina walked, and Luis Jean bunted his way on base. Marc DiLeo's single then made the score 2-0, and Chris Scura followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 advantage.
Starter Williams Perez was outstanding in his second start of the season, pitching six shutout innings while allowing three hits and three walks, fanning three to keep the Slammers' bats at bay. But trouble came in the seventh inning as Joliet's R.J. Thompson worked a leadoff walk. Two batters later, Dom Iero hit a two-run homer down the right field line to cut the Miners' lead to one, and then two batters after that, Cody Clark tied the score on a solo homer at 3-3.
The Slammers weren't done in the inning as former Miner London Lindley singled against his former team, and then stole second base with the throw from the catcher getting into center field. The speedy Lindley would score from second base on the error to give his new team the 4-3 lead, but the Miners would get that run back and then some in the final frames.
In the eighth Holland worked a leadoff walk and moved to second on a groundout. With two outs, Dudek came through with an RBI single, his third hit of the contest, to tie the game at 4-4. Then in the ninth, Jean was issued a leadoff walk by Corey Kimber (0-1), and after Scura walked, against new pitcher Keegan Long, Holland lined a go-ahead single just over the leaping glove of the Joliet second baseman to put the Miners in front 5-4.
In the bottom of the ninth, John Werner came on and recorded his fourth save of the season by striking out two batters, including Lindley swinging to end it for the team's third win in their last four games. Dudek was the hitting star for the Miners, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and finishing a triple away from the cycle.
The Miners will look to make it back-to-back wins over the Slammers on Saturday at 6:05 p.m., with Chris Washington making the start for the Miners against Joliet's Duke Von Schamann.
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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