Miners Walk off Crushers Again for Sixth Straight Win
August 26, 2015 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. (August 26, 2015) - The Southern Illinois Miners fell behind in the first and were held without a hit for the first six innings against the Lake Erie Crushers but battled back, tying the game in the seventh before winning it in the bottom of the ninth on Steve Marino's walk-off single 3-2 for their sixth win in a row on Wednesday night at Rent One Park. It was the eighth walk-off win in 2015 for Southern Illinois and the third against Lake Erie this season.
Tim Flight made his home debut and struggled in the first inning, walking two and also surrendering a two-run homer to catcher Jose Barraza for a 2-0 Crushers advantage. Flight would settle down in a big way, however, as Lake Erie got only one more hit off of him the rest of the night. The lefty did not allow another base hit from the second until the seventh inning, retiring 17 out of 19 total batters in that span and tying his season-high with seven innings pitched.
The Miners' offense was held down completely by lefty Brad Zambron, who no-hit Southern Illinois for the first six innings before the Miners were able to come back in the seventh. Michael Earley extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a leadoff single (now the longest streak by any Miner this season), and two batters later Niko Vasquez came up and smacked a game-tying, two-run homer to left, his third in as many nights and team-best 14th of the season, knotting the score up at 2-2.
Neither team was able to break the tie until the bottom of the ninth, as Vasquez hit a one-out ground-rule double to right-center. Two batters later, with two outs in the inning, Marino singled to center, and pinch-runner Ryan DiMascio slid in headfirst just ahead of the tag as Southern Illinois won their sixth game in a row, tying their season best that they also accomplished from May 26th-31st.
The Miners also improved to 30 games over the .500 mark at 58-28, and lowered their magic number to clinch a division title to five while also winning in walk-off fashion for the eighth time with the eighth different Miner driving home the winning run. They will go for a sweep of Lake Erie on Thursday at 7:05 p.m., with Jarett Miller on the hill against Lake Erie's Todd Kibby.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the 2014 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.
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Frontier League Stories from August 26, 2015
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