Miners Outlast Boomers For 600th All-Time Win

From the Southern Illinois Miners

MARION, IL – The Southern Illinois Miners went toe-to-toe on Wednesday night with the Schaumburg Boomers at Rent One Park, grabbing an early lead and then turning aside numerous rally attempts in a 6-5 triumph, evening the series at one game apiece and giving the Miners their 600th all-time victory to become the fastest team in Frontier League history to reach that milestone.

The scoring started in the bottom of the second inning when after back-to-back leadoff hits by Ryan Lashley and Brett Wiley, both were driven in two batters later by James Alfonso in his first at-bat in a Southern Illinois uniform to put the home team in front 2-0. In the third, Boomers starter Michael Wood (1-2) walked the bases loaded, and Anthony Critelli hit a ground ball to third base that Andrew Broadbeck threw low to first, allowing two runs to score and make it 4-0 Miners after three innings.

Corey Sessions was stellar on the hill for the Miners in his first start since June 17th, retiring nine Boomers hitters in a row between the second and fifth innings with four strikeouts. With two outs in the fifth, however, Schaumburg mounted a rally to score two runs on a double by Nick Oddo and a single by Jack Parenty along with two walks. Romeo Cortina‘s leaping grab at the left field wall ended the frame and kept the Miners in front 4-2, but Schaumburg would add another run on a triple by Zack Weigel and a wild pitch in the top of the sixth, making it 4-3. Later in the inning, with the tying run at third base, Paul Young struck out Oddo to again keep Southern Illinois in the lead.

The Miners then added valuable insurance to their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Alfonso led off with a walk and London Lindley reached on a bunt single before Craig Massey socked an RBI single into right field for a 5-3 advantage. A ground-rule double by Cortina scored another run for a 6-3 lead, but again, Schaumburg would close the gap by getting both runs back in the top of the seventh on an RBI triple by Kyle Ruchim and a sacrifice fly by Josh Gardiner, making the score 6-5.

In the eighth, the Boomers loaded the bases with nobody out against Kyle Grana, but he wiggled out of trouble by striking out pinch-hitter John Holland and then getting Parenty to bounce into an inning-ending double play to Critelli at first to again keep the Miners in the lead. There would be no such threat in the ninth inning, as John Werner struck out the side for his 12th save to end the game and give the Miners’ their milestone series-evening victory.

The Miners will go for a series win on Thursday night at 7:05 in the rubber match against the Boomers, with Zach Cooper taking the mound against Schaumburg left-hander Lars Liguori.