Miners Shock Evansville Late for Fifth Straight Victory
June 25, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Miners were down by three runs twice in the game on Saturday night in Marion against the Evansville Otters, but came back both times with four runs in the third and four more in the eighth to stun the visitors 9-7 at Rent One Park, clinching the series with their fifth straight win and 16th in their last 19 overall. They also widened their lead over the Otters in the West Division standings to four games.
Evansville plated three runs in the second off of Jarett Miller, who hit two batters in the frame, but double play balls in that inning as well as the third helped hold the damage to 3-0. The Miners then pounced on Trevor Walch in the third, as Brendan O'Brien and Aaron Gates worked back-to-back walks and Shane Kennedy singled to load the bases. Craig Massey then cleared the bases and tied the game with a three-run double to the left field corner, and two batters later, Nolan Earley banged a go-ahead RBI single up the middle for a 4-3 Miners lead.
The lead would not last long. In the fifth, with two outs, Chris Breen tripled to the right field corner to bring home Josh Allen from first base and tie the game at 4-4 before the Otters struck for three more runs in the sixth inning against Brooks Trujillo. An error made two of the runs unearned, but Evansville led 7-4 as Southern Illinois faced their second three-run deficit of the game. They got a run back immediately on a two-out ground-rule double by Vin Guglietti with two outs to make the score 7-5 Otters through six.
Against reliever Ken Frosch, the Miners were retired in order in the seventh, but he hit Massey to lead off the eighth. Against new reliever and former Miner Andrew Potter (1-1), Massey stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before Alex De Leon walked. Earley hit a grounder to the right side of the infield that brought home Massey and moved De Leon to second to make the score 7-6, and with one out, De Leon stole third before Steve Marino and Guglietti both worked walks to load the bases. Toby DeMello then came up against Otters closer Randy McCurry and lined a huge, two-run, go-ahead double to right-center field to give the Miners an 8-7 lead before O'Brien followed with a single to make it 9-7. Jake Cose then worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save to end the game.
The Miners will go for a home sweep of the Otters on Sunday night at 5:05 p.m., with Dyllon Nuernberg starting for the Miners opposed by former Southern Illinois lefty Hunter Ackerman.
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. For any additional information, visit our website at www.southernillinoisminers.com.
Frontier League Stories from June 25, 2016
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