Miners Ride Ace, Bats to Blast CornBelters
Published on June 5, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Miners took control early with four runs in the second inning and got another brilliant start by reigning Pitcher of the Year MATT BYWATER that included a career-best 12 strikeouts in a big 10-2 win over the Normal CornBelters at The Corn Crib in Normal on Friday night.
The Miners threatened almost immediately against Normal starter Kevin Brahney (3-1), who walked AARON GATES and MICHAEL EARLEY to open the game. The Miners did not score that inning, but ended up getting four runs in the next frame. NIKO VASQUEZ led off with a walk, and TOBY DEMELLO later drove him in with an RBI single after JON MINUCCI walked with two outs. Gates then reached on an infield hit to load the bases for Earley, who hit a deep fly ball to right-center field that dropped for a bases-clearing triple and a 4-0 Miners lead.
Meanwhile, Bywater (4-0) was unhittable. The left-hander struck out seven Normal hitters in just the first three frames, including a rare four-strikeout inning in the third when one of the hitters ended up reaching base on a wild pitch. The Miners gave him four more runs in the fifth inning. With one out, FRANK MARTINEZ extended his hitting streak to eight games with an infield single before Vasquez hit a two-run homer over the right-center field fence for a 6-1 lead. It was the Miners' first home run since May 16th at Lake Erie and Vasquez's first of the season.
Southern Illinois would tack on four more hits immediately after the long ball, with STEVE MARINO and DeMello picking up RBIs on a double and single, respectively, to chase Brahney and blow the game open.
They would add two more runs in the seventh as Marino doubled before Minucci drove him in with his first career triple, followed by another sacrifice fly by DeMello for his third RBI of the game.
Bywater ended up pitching eight innings and striking out a career-best 12 batters, besting the 11 from his previous start against Joliet to improve to 4-0 on the season. Offensively, Minucci and Marino had three hits apiece while DeMello and Vasquez had a pair of hits, with DeMello and Earley driving in three runs each as the Miners tied a season-high with ten runs. Their 14 hits was one off their season-high as well as the Miners improved to 6-1 on the road.
They will go for the series win on Saturday at 6:35 p.m., with RYAN BROCKETT opposing Normal's Chris Carmain.
Frontier League Stories from June 5, 2015
- Rascals Snap Six-Game Winning Streak - River City Rascals
- Miners Ride Ace, Bats to Blast CornBelters - Southern Illinois Miners
- Otters Defeat Slammers 9-2 - Evansville Otters
- Grizzlies Take Series' Opener from River City - Gateway Grizzlies
- Aviators Top ThunderBolts 5-3 in Series Opener - Rockford Aviators
- ThunderBolts Lose Fourth Straight, 5-3 to Rockford - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Slammers Fall in Game One against Otters - Joliet Slammers
- ThunderBolts Lose Fourth Straight, 5-3 to Rockford - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Miners End CornBelters Win Streak - Normal CornBelters
- Boomers Capture Opener from Greys - Schaumburg Boomers
- Wild Things Suffer 7-0 Loss to Traverse City - Washington Wild Things
- Beach Bums Win 7-0 - Traverse City Beach Bums
- June 5 Florence Freedom Game Notes - Florence Y'alls
- Rascals Complete Sweep, Win Sixth Straight - River City Rascals
- Miners Rally, But Cannot Complete Late Comeback vs Boomers - Southern Illinois Miners
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