Gibbons’ Gem Leads Miners To Shutout Win At Lake Erie

The Southern Illinois Miners got a brilliant start from Ethan Gibbons on the mound, as the right-hander struck out a career-high nine batters over a career-best seven and two-thirds shutout innings in a 1-0 shutout victory over the Lake Erie Crushers at Sprenger Stadium in Avon, Ohio on Thursday night.

The lone run of the game scored in the top of the third inning for Southern Illinois, as after the first two batters were retired by the Crushers’ starter Connor Reed (1-3), Nolan Earley reached second on a drive to deep center field that went off the glove of Connor Oliver for an error. Willi Martin then followed with a grounder to third base that Cody Lenahan booted, putting runners at first and third for Marc Flores. The outfielder came up clutch with a line-drive double down the right field line to score Earley as the Miners grabbed a 1-0 lead.

That lead would stand up thanks to Gibbons (2-1), who was in command the whole way, allowing just three hits and one walk in the contest while also setting a career-best in strikeouts for the second start in a row with nine. He struck out multiple batters in three separate innings, and departed after Max Casper singled to center field on his final pitch of the night in the bottom of the eighth, completing the longest outing by a Miners pitcher this season.

John Werner was summoned from the bullpen, and he recorded the final out of the eighth before retiring the side in order in the ninth on just seven pitches to earn his third save of the season, wrapping up the first shutout win of the year for Southern Illinois.

The Miners finished their six-game road trip with a 4-2 record, and they will next return home to Rent One Park to begin a nine-game homestand on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. against the Joliet Slammers.

BOX SCORE

Batting Stats

Batting
2B: M.Flores (2), J.Chigbogu (5). RBI: M.Flores (9). SB: L.Lindley (9). Team LOB: 9.

Fielding A: C.Massey (49), B.Moore (4), J.McKeithan (39). E: J.McKeithan (8). FCS: B.Moore (1).
PO: C.Massey 2 (33), N.Earley (37), M.Flores 3 (12), J.Chigbogu 4 (172), R.Lashley 2 (9), B.Moore 10 (130), J.McKeithan (29), L.Lindley 4 (61). SBA: B.Moore (25). TC: C.Massey 3 (83), N.Earley (39), M.Flores 3 (12), J.Chigbogu 4 (187), R.Lashley 2 (42), B.Moore 11 (135), J.McKeithan 3 (76), L.Lindley 4 (62).

Batting
2B: C.Lenahan (4). CS: C.Oliver (3).
Team LOB: 3.

Fielding  A: J.Dean 3 (64), C.Lenahan 3 (33), C.Hofmann (4), M.Casper 3 (45), C.Reed 2 (5)E   C.Oliver (5), C.Lenahan 2 (7).  PO: C.Oliver (43), J.Dean 4 (45), B.Murray 11 (19), T.Lubach 7 (162), C.Hofmann 4 (33).  SBA: T.Lubach (24).  TC: C.Oliver 2 (50), J.Dean 7 (115), C.Lenahan 5 (54), B.Murray 11 (20), T.Lubach 7 (181), C.Hofmann 5 (40), M.Casper 3 (64), C.Reed 2 (6).

Pitching Stats

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
17	Gibbons, E	7.2	3	0	0	1	9	4.07
28	Werner, J	1.1	0	0	0	0	0	2.61
		9	3	0	0	1	9

Pitching
BF: E.Gibbons 26, J.Werner 4.
P-S: E.Gibbons 105-71, J.Werner 10-5.

Lake Erie
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
13	Reed, C	7.0	6	1	0	1	4	3.07
23	Arciniega, M	2.0	1	0	0	0	3	6.55
		9	7	1	0	1	7

Pitching
BF: C.Reed 30, M.Arciniega 7.
P-S: C.Reed 91-63, M.Arciniega 21-14.