Miners Rally, But Cannot Complete Comeback In Loss To Joliet

The Southern Illinois Miners returned home to Rent One Park on Friday night, and rallied from down six runs in the sixth inning to get the tying run either on base or at the plate in the sixth, seventh and ninth, but could not complete their comeback attempts in falling to the Joliet Slammers 7-4.

Neither side got any baserunners against the opposition’s starting pitcher in the first two innings, as Payton Lobdell (2-3) and Luis Cruz (1-0) were dealing early. But the Slammers broke through in the third, scoring three runs on a wild pitch, an RBI single by Juan Silva and a subsequent single by Rock Shoulders to take a 3-0 lead. The Slammers would add to that total with one run in the fifth for a 4-0 advantage, and Silva’s two-run homer made it 6-0 in the fifth.

Cruz was removed after five shutout innings with five strikeouts and two baserunners allowed, but the Miners mounted several rallies against the Slammers’ bullpen. In the sixth, Culver Plant and London Lindley singled off Daniel Concepcion, and two batters later, Nolan Earley‘s single got the Miners on the board and made it 6-1. Willi Martin then came through with a two-run single to slice the Joliet lead to 6-3. A walk to Marc Flores put the tying run at the plate, but Ryan Lashley lined into a double play to end the threat.

The next inning, Concepcion departed after Billy Germaine walked and Plant singled, and Lindley’s single off Brian McKenna loaded the bases and put the tying run on first. But McKenna struck out the next two Miners to preserve the lead. After an insurance run scored in the eighth for the visitors on a fielder’s choice by Ridge Hoopii-Haslam, Southern Illinois attempted one last comeback in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Plant tripled and Lindley reached on an infield single. Craig Massey‘s walk loaded the bases and again brought the tying run to the plate. Earley hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field to make it 7-4, but Martin bounced out to third base to end the game.

Plant finished 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored in his home debut for the Miners, while Lindley also posted a 3-for-4 day at the dish. Earley and Martin drove home two runs each, but the Slammers came away with the series-opening victory.

Southern Illinois will look to even the series on Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. when Tyler Stubblefield takes the mound for the Miners against Joliet’s Joseph Ortiz, with the Miners retiring Ralph Santana’s #20 in a pregame ceremony on the field.

Box Score

Batting Stats

Batting
2B: E.Gomez (4), R.Hoopii-Haslam (3). 3B: E.Gomez (2). HP: E.Gomez (1). HR: J.Silva (6).
RBI: J.Silva 3 (18), R.Shoulders (18), R.Hoopii-Haslam (13). CS: D.Zardon (1), R.Hoopii-Haslam (3).
SB: J.Silva (5). Team LOB: 3.

Fielding
A: D.Zardon (16), M.Rodriguez 4 (67), C.Meadows (27), D.Concepcion (4). DP: 1 (M. Rodriguez(2B) – C. Meadows(SS) – R. Shoulders(1B)). PO: A.Rodriguez (45), D.Zardon 2 (7), R.Shoulders 5 (189), M.Rodriguez 2 (44), R.Hoopii-Haslam 2 (53), C.Patterson 9 (26), C.Meadows 5 (17), D.Concepcion (3).
TC: A.Rodriguez (47), D.Zardon 3 (24), R.Shoulders 5 (202), M.Rodriguez 6 (114), R.Hoopii-Haslam 2 (87), C.Patterson 9 (32), C.Meadows 6 (45), D.Concepcion 2 (7).

Batting
3B: C.Plant (1).
RBI: N.Earley 2 (13), W.Martin 2 (8).
SF: N.Earley (3).
Team LOB: 8.

Fielding
A: C.Massey (50), R.Lashley (29), B.Moore 2 (6), B.Germaine (1), C.Plant 3 (20), P.Lobdell 2 (4), N.Palacios (3). CS: B.Moore (1), B.Germaine (1). DP: 2 (C. Massey(2B) – C. Plant(SS) – J. Chigbogu(1B),C. Plant(SS) – J. Chigbogu(1B)). PO: C.Massey 5 (38), N.Earley 2 (39), M.Flores 3 (15), J.Chigbogu 5 (177), B.Moore 3 (133), B.Germaine 3 (8), C.Plant 4 (10), L.Lindley (62), P.Lobdell (2).
SBA: B.Moore 2 (27), B.Germaine (1). TC: C.Massey 6 (89), N.Earley 2 (41), M.Flores 3 (15), R.Lashley (43), J.Chigbogu 5 (192), B.Moore 5 (140), B.Germaine 4 (10), C.Plant 7 (31), L.Lindley (63), P.Lobdell 3 (6), N.Palacios (4)

Joliet
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
	Cruz, L	5.0	1	0	0	1	5	0.00
32	Concepcion, D	1.1	5	3	3	2	0	8.07
20	McKenna, B	0.2	1	0	0	0	2	2.16
46	Lara, C	2.0	3	1	1	1	2	3.48
		9	10	4	4	4	9

Pitching
BF: L.Cruz 16, D.Concepcion 10, B.McKenna 3, C.Lara 10. P-S: L.Cruz 83-54, D.Concepcion 33-14, B.McKenna 16-11, C.Lara 35-21. WP: D.Concepcion (1).

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
16	Lobdell, P	5.0	8	6	6	1	2	7.82
12	DeBoo, C	1.0	0	0	0	2	1	4.91
1	Palacios, N	2.0	1	1	1	1	1	5.40
22	Liriano, E	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	5.69
		9	9	7	7	5	5

Pitching
BF: P.Lobdell 22, C.DeBoo 6, N.Palacios 6, E.Liriano 3. P-S: P.Lobdell 80-46, C.DeBoo 26-13, N.Palacios 21-16, E.Liriano 18-8. WP: P.Lobdell (1).