Miners Shut Out By CornBelters

From the Southern Illinois Miners

The Southern Illinois Miners’ offense was held down by the Normal CornBelters on Tuesday night at Rent One Park as the visitors came away with a 2-0 final score in the series opener.

After a scoreless first inning in which both teams threatened with men on base, Nolan Meadows led off the second inning with a first-pitch solo home run off Matt Parish to make it 1-0. In the third inning, the CornBelters loaded the bases with no one out, but scored just one run, on a sacrifice fly by Meadows for a 2-0 lead. Normal also loaded the bases to lead off the fourth inning, but Parish (2-2) got a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to keep the game close.

Southern Illinois and Normal would then threaten with men on base in almost every inning against the other’s pitching but could not break through for any more runs in the game. The Miners got close to scoring numerous times, including when they loaded the bases in the eighth inning with the potential go-ahead run on base, and when they put the tying runs on base in the ninth inning against Chad Gendron, but could not come up with the clutch hit they needed as both teams left 12 men on base in the game.

Austin Dubsky and Paul Young kept the contest tight with a combined five scoreless frames out of the Miners bullpen, while Romeo Cortina tripled among his three hits in a 3-for-5 game to pace the Miners’ offense, but it was not enough as the CornBelters got the shutout victory.
Southern Illinois will look to even the series and bounce back on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m., with Zach Cooper pitching for the Miners against Normal’s Shawn Blackwell.

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.