Miners Storm Back To Win Finale Over ThunderBolts

From the Southern Illinois Miners

MARION, IL – 

The Southern Illinois Miners trailed 5-0 in the fifth inning of Sunday’s series finale against the Windy City ThunderBolts at Rent One Park before mounting a big comeback, scoring three in the fifth and three more in the sixth before the bullpen shut the visitors down in a 6-5 win.

The game was scoreless through the first three innings before Larry Balkwill’s solo homer off Chris Washington made it 1-0 Windy City in the fourth. The ThunderBolts would then bat around their order and score four more times in the fifth inning, all with two outs on RBI hits by Riley Krane and Tim Zier along with a throwing error to put the Miners in a 5-0 hole.

Southern Illinois, however, would climb out of that hole beginning immediately against Windy City starter Drake Robison in the bottom of the fifth inning. Robison hit Ryan Sluder leading off before the Miners’ first hit of the game, a single to left field by London Lindley, was misplayed by Coco Johnson, allowing Sluder to score and make it 5-1. The next pitch was hit fair down the first base line by Craig Massey for a double to bring Lindley home for a 5-2 score, and three batters later, after two walks and a popout along with a pitching change, Brett Wiley reached base on an error by Balkwill at first base with the bases loaded to make it 5-3 ThunderBolts.

Miners DH Romeo Cortina with an RBI triple driving in two.

The Miners were not finished. Back-to-back walks by Lindley and Massey off of Andrew Lowe (0-1) set things up for Romeo Cortina, whose sinking line drive into center field bounced past Keenyn Walker and rolled to the warning track, resulting in a triple that scored the tying runs and knotted the score at 5-5. After another pitching change, Nolan Earley hit a ground ball to Zier at second base, who then tried to throw home to nab Cortina trying to score. His throw was not in time as Cortina slid in safely to make the score 6-5 Southern Illinois.

The Miners’ bullpen took care of the rest, as after a leadoff single by Walker in the top of the seventh inning, Kyle Grana came in for eventual winning pitcher Corey Sessions (2-5). Walker was caught stealing by James Alfonso, and Grana would fan four of the five hitters he faced in two scoreless innings. John Werner then struck out two more ThunderBolts in a perfect ninth for his 14th save as the Miners took the final game of the weekend set.

Lindley and Massey led the Miners’ offense with two runs scored each. Southern Illinois was out-hit in the game 10 to four, but drew eight walks against the Windy City staff while also clubbing three of their four hits for extra bases.

The Miners will next remain home to host the Gateway Grizzlies in a midweek series beginning on Wednesday night with a doubleheader at 6:05 p.m.

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.