Offense Erupts Early, Ludwig Cruises as Miners Win Seventh Straight
June 28, 2016 - Frontier League (FL)
Southern Illinois Miners News Release
Marion, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Miners scored early and often on Tuesday night against the Schaumburg Boomers at Rent One Park, plating all nine of their runs on 11 of their 12 hits in the first three innings, while Dan Ludwig pitched a career-high eight innings and struck out a career-best six in a 9-1 Miners win, the team's seventh in a row and 18th in their last 21 games overall.
In the first, Aaron Gates doubled and Shane Kennedy drove him in immediately with a single for a 1-0 lead. After Kennedy stole second and Craig Massey walked, with two outs later in the inning, Steve Marino drove home two runs with a double to make the score 3-0. Schaumburg would get an unearned run in the top of the second inning on a ground-rule RBI double by James Keller to make it 3-1, but that would be the closest the Boomers would get, as Southern Illinois would turn the game into a lopsided affair in the second inning.
A leadoff walk by Toby DeMello and a double to left by Francisco Rosario set the Miners up with runners at second and third and nobody out. Gates then hit a sinking liner to center field that Zack Weigel was unable to come up with on a dive, scoring DeMello for a 4-1 lead. Kennedy then hit a low liner to left-center field and Chris Robinson dove for the ball, but again missed it, allowing both runners to come home and score on what eventually became Kennedy's first professional triple and a 6-1 Miners advantage. Massey then hit an RBI single to score Kennedy and make it 7-1, while the Miners plated their final two runs in the following inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Gates and Kennedy.
That was more than Ludwig needed, as after Keller's double in the second inning, the southpaw would stifle the Boomers offense by retiring 20 of the final 21 batters he faced in the game. He ended up allowing just the lone unearned run on four hits, walking none and setting new career benchmarks with eight innings pitched and six strikeouts, improving to 5-0 on the season. Offensively, Gates and Kennedy both went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, with Gates adding a double and two RBIs and Kennedy a triple and four RBIs. DeMello and Rosario each had two hits and two runs scored as well as the Miners improved to 19-5 in the month of June and 27-12 on the season.
They will go for their 20th win of the month and their eighth in a row on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. against the Boomers, with the visitors sending Lars Liguori to the mound against Southern Illinois' Josh Kimborowicz.
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.
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