Miners Use Late Rally to Best Wild Things, Clinch Series
Published on July 17, 2016 under Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. (July 16, 2016) - The Southern Illinois Miners won a back-and-forth ballgame on Saturday night at CONSOL Energy Park against the Washington Wild Things by a final score of 4-3 on Alex De Leon's go-ahead RBI double in the eighth, clinching the weekend series by winning the first two games.
Aaron Gates gave the Miners an immediate lead with a solo homer leading off the ballgame against Trevor Foss (7-3), making it 1-0 before a Chris Grayson homer in the bottom of the frame with two outs off Dan Ludwig made the score 1-1. Kyle Pollock would also hit a solo shot in the bottom of the second, giving the Wild Things a 2-1 lead. The score remained 2-1 until the fifth inning, when after Foss issued a walk to Edison Sanchez, later in the frame, with runners at the corners and two outs, Nolan Earley came through with an RBI single to knot the score at 2-2.
Ludwig settled down in the middle innings on the mound, retiring 11 batters in a row after Pollock's homer, and ended up pitching seven innings while striking out a career-high nine without a single walk. In the seventh inning, Grant Fink hit a go-ahead solo homer to make it 3-2 Washington, but the Miners would rally in the top of the eighth. Gates led off with a single against Foss, and moved to second on a groundout. That set the stage for Craig Massey, who singled through the left side to bring Gates home and tie the game at 3-3.
In the next at-bat, De Leon then rocketed a double on the ground just inside the third base bag and just past the glove of a diving Washington third baseman Ricky Rodriguez to score Massey and give the Miners a 4-3 lead. After Chris DeBoo worked a scoreless eighth inning, Adam Lopez walked two in the ninth, with two wild pitches with two outs advancing the runners to second and third, respectively. But Lopez then retired Austin Wobrock on a grounder to shortstop to end the ballgame.
Ludwig improved to 7-1 with the victory, while Lopez picked up his second save in as many nights and third on the year. Gates led the charge offensively, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and one driven in, while De Leon also finished 2-for-4 with the go-ahead double and RBI as the Miners clinched the series at CONSOL Energy Park. They will go for the road series sweep of the Wild Things on Sunday night at 5:05 p.m., with Jarett Miller opposing Washington's Chris Cunningham in the pitching matchup.
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 July 17, 2016
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