Stubblefield Twirls Shutout As Miners Split Doubleheader

From the Southern Illinois Miners

Tyler Stubblefield, at a recent start at Rent One Park. (SI Miners photo)

The Southern Illinois Miners got a complete-game shutout from Tyler Stubblefield with a career-high ten strikeouts in a 5-0 win over the Evansville Otters in game two of a doubleheader on Sunday at Bosse Field to secure a split of the two games after the Otters won the first contest 10-1.

In the second game, the Miners scored first in the first inning, as after Craig Massey led off the game with a double, Kurt Wertz, Jr. singled him home with two outs for a 1-0 Miners advantage. In the second inning, with Massey on first and two outs after a single, Brett Wiley launched a deep drive to center that was off the glove of Manny De Jesus and called an error, allowing Massey to score from first base and make it 2-0 Miners.

Southern Illinois would get three more runs in the third inning- with the bases loaded on two singles and a walk, Ryan Sluder laced a base hit to left field for his first professional hit and run batted in and a 3-0 Miners lead. Zach Taylor followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 4-0 before a wild pitch by Evansville starter Diego Ibarra made the score 5-0.

Stubblefield (3-1), meanwhile, was outstanding on the mound, working out of a jam with runners at first and third base and one out in the first inning with his first two strikeouts before settling into a groove. The first-year Miner would proceed to strike out at least one batter in every inning, finishing with a career-best 10 in the game while permitting four singles and two walks in the first shutout by a single Miners pitcher since June 12th, 2016.

In the first game, Evansville starter Max Duval pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts of his own, holding the Miners to one run, which scored in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Anthony Critelli for his first professional run batted in. The Otters’ offense scored four runs in the first, two on one of two homers hit in the game by Jeff Gardner, and added three runs in the third inning, one in the fifth and two in the sixth to complete the scoring.

Winners of six of their last nine contests overall, Southern Illinois will next travel to Sauget, Illinois on Tuesday to start a three-game series against the Gateway Grizzlies. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., with Chris Washington taking the mound for the Miners against Gateway left-hander Dylan Craig.

The Southern Illinois Miners are the 2016 Frontier League West Division Champions, the 2014 and 2015 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.

Box Score Game 1

Batting Stats

Batting
HP: W.Martin (2). RBI: A.Critelli (1). Team LOB: 4.

Fielding
A: C.Massey 2 (84), B.Wiley 2 (17), R.Lashley (48), E.Gibbons (4).
DP: 2 (C. Massey(SS) – A. Critelli(1B),B. Wiley(2B) – R. Lashley(3B) – A. Critelli(1B)).  E: B.Wiley (4), A.Critelli (1).  PO: C.Massey (69), B.Wiley (16), R.Lashley (15), K.Wertz Jr. (11), A.Critelli 5 (14), N.Earley (59), B.Moore 4 (210), L.Lindley (92), R.Sluder 2 (4).
SBA: B.Moore 2 (44).  TC: C.Massey 3 (155), B.Wiley 4 (37), R.Lashley 2 (70), K.Wertz Jr. (13), A.Critelli 6 (16), N.Earley (62), B.Moore 4 (224), L.Lindley (93), R.Sluder 2 (4), E.Gibbons (8).

Batting
2B: A.Segovia (6), J.Schultz (9), N.Walker (1).HP: J.Gardner (2).  HR: J.Gardner 2 (12).  RBI: J.Schultz 2 (26), J.Gardner 5 (35), N.Walker (1).
SB: C.Riopedre (4), K.Yamaguchi (1).  Team LOB: 6.

Fielding
A: J.Allen 2 (95), J.Schultz (2), C.Riopedre (76), N.Walker (2), M.Duval (4).  DP: 2 (J. Schultz(LF) – J. Allen(2B),J. Allen(2B) – C. Riopedre(SS) – A. Segovia(1B)).  PB: K.Yamaguchi (3).  PO: M.De Jesus 2 (12), J.Allen 2 (62), A.Segovia 3 (110), J.Schultz 3 (37), C.Riopedre (48), K.Yamaguchi 10 (61).  TC: M.De Jesus 2 (12), J.Allen 4 (161), A.Segovia 3 (125), J.Schultz 4 (41), C.Riopedre 2 (130), K.Yamaguchi 10 (66), N.Walker (3), M.Duval (7).

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
17	Gibbons, E	2.2	10	7	6	1	2	5.08
18	Sessions, C	3.1	3	3	3	1	2	4.79
		6	13	10	9	2	4

Pitching
BF: E.Gibbons 19, C.Sessions 15.  P-S: E.Gibbons 67-43, C.Sessions 53-33.
WP: E.Gibbons (1), C.Sessions (1).

Evansville
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
25	Duval, M	7.0	3	1	1	3	10	2.94
		7	3	1	1	3	10

Box Score Game 2

Batting Stats

Batting
2B: C.Massey (6), K.Wertz Jr. (4).  RBI: K.Wertz Jr. (9), R.Sluder (1), Z.Taylor (1).  SF: Z.Taylor (1).  SB: M.Flores (10).  Team LOB: 9.

Fielding
A: A.Critelli (2), C.Plant 3 (36).  E: B.Wiley (5).  PO: K.Wertz Jr. (12), A.Critelli 3 (17), M.Flores 3 (60), C.Plant (22), R.Sluder 2 (6), Z.Taylor 10 (14), T.Stubblefield (1).  TC: B.Wiley (38), K.Wertz Jr. (14), A.Critelli 4 (20), M.Flores 3 (64), C.Plant 4 (61), R.Sluder 2 (6), Z.Taylor 10 (15), T.Stubblefield (6).

Batting
Team LOB: 7.

Fielding
A: N.Walker 3 (5), J.Allen 3 (98), L.Montano (10), C.Riopedre (77).
DP: 1 (J. Allen(2B) – N. Walker(3B) – L. Montano(1B)).  E: J.Allen (5), M.De Jesus (1), A.Sweet (1).  PO: J.Allen 2 (64), L.Montano 5 (154), J.Gardner 2 (42), K.Yamaguchi 9 (70), M.De Jesus 2 (14), K.Cummings (3).
SBA: K.Yamaguchi (5).  TC: N.Walker 3 (6), J.Allen 6 (167), L.Montano 6 (166), J.Gardner 2 (45), C.Riopedre (131), K.Yamaguchi 9 (75), M.De Jesus 3 (15), K.Cummings (5), A.Sweet (4).

Pitching Stats

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
38	Stubblefield, T	7.0	4	0	0	2	10	4.22
		7	4	0	0	2	10

Pitching
BF: T.Stubblefield 28.  P-S: T.Stubblefield 108-72.

Evansville
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	Ibarra, D	4.0	6	5	2	3	3	5.73
31	Sweet, A	1.0	1	0	0	1	2	6.38
18	Cummings, K	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	1.21
43	McCoy, J	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0.00
		7	9	5	2	4	8

Pitching
BF: D.Ibarra 22, A.Sweet 5, K.Cummings 5, J.McCoy 3.  P-S: D.Ibarra 105-64, A.Sweet 17-11, K.Cummings 17-14, J.McCoy 11-8.  WP: D.Ibarra (1).