Miners Stumble Against Slammers In Saturday Defeat

MARION, IL – The Southern Illinois Miners came all the way back from a five-run deficit early in the game on Saturday night at Rent One Park against the Joliet Slammers to take a 7-6 lead in the fifth inning, but could not hold it in a 9-7 loss, their second in a row to the visitors in Marion.

Joliet scored runs in each of the first four innings against Tyler Stubblefield, with Danny Zardon’s inside-the-park home run in the first making it 1-0. Two runs came across in the second inning, including a two-out single by Chase Patterson, for a 3-0 lead, and that was extended to 5-0 on two-out singles by Ridge Hoopii-Haslam and Chaz Meadows. The Miners got a run back as London Lindley doubled to lead off the bottom of the third and came home on an RBI single by Craig Massey, but the Slammers scored that run back in the top of the fourth inning on another two-out hit by Rock Shoulders to make the score 6-1.

The Miners then came all the way back in their next two turns at-bat. After Billy Germaine singled with one out in the fourth inning and Ben Moore was hit by a pitch, Culver Plant singled home a run to make it 6-2. Lindley’s groundout to shortstop plated another run to make it 6-3, and then Massey hit an infield single off the glove of Shoulders at first with two outs to make it a 6-4 ballgame heading to the fifth inning.

After a scoreless top half by the Slammers, the Miners got more two-out hitting to vault into the lead in the bottom half. Willi Martin doubled home Marc Flores home from first base with the runner in motion to make it a 6-5 ballgame. Two batters later, Moore singled Martin to third and Plant came up clutch to tie the game with a single up the middle, chasing Joliet starter Joe Ortiz. Lindley greeted Skylar Janisse (1-0) with an RBI single of his own, which gave the Miners their first lead of the contest at 7-6.

The Slammers responded, however, in the top of the sixth inning as Melvin Rodriguez hit a go-ahead, two-out, two-run homer to left to make it 8-7 Joliet. The Slammers added another run in the top of the seventh on Zardon’s RBI single for the final margin, as Southern Illinois got the tying run to the plate in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but could not score in the loss.

Germaine finished with three hits off the bench while Plant, Lindley, Massey and Flores all had two-hit nights. Plant and Massey added two RBIs apiece. Southern Illinois will look to avoid a sweep on Sunday at 5:05 p.m., with Corey Sessions taking the mound against the Slammers’ Shane Bryant.

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.

Box Score

Batting Stats

Batting
2B: A.Rodriguez (6), D.Zardon (3). HR: D.Zardon (2), M.Rodriguez (4).
RBI: D.Zardon 2 (9), R.Shoulders (19), M.Rodriguez 2 (18), R.Hoopii-Haslam (14), C.Meadows 2 (6), C.Patterson (1). SF: C.Meadows (1). SB: R.Hoopii-Haslam (4). Team LOB: 11.

Fielding A: D.Zardon 4 (20), M.Rodriguez (68), C.Meadows 8 (35). E: J.Silva (1), M.Rodriguez (4).
PO: A.Rodriguez 2 (47), J.Silva (37), R.Shoulders 13 (202), M.Rodriguez 2 (46), R.Hoopii-Haslam 3 (56), C.Meadows 2 (19), C.Patterson 4 (30). SBA: C.Patterson (7). TC: A.Rodriguez 2 (49), J.Silva 2 (39), D.Zardon 4 (28), R.Shoulders 13 (215), M.Rodriguez 4 (118), R.Hoopii-Haslam 3 (90), C.Meadows 10 (55), C.Patterson 4 (36).

Batting
2B: W.Martin (3), L.Lindley (5).  3B: N.Earley (1).  HP: B.Moore (5).  RBI: C.Massey 2 (12), W.Martin (9), C.Plant 2 (3), L.Lindley (5).  SB: C.Massey (2).  Team LOB: 9.

Fielding
A: C.Massey 4 (54), N.Earley (2), R.Lashley (30), C.Plant 3 (23), T.Stubblefield 3 (4), A.Dubsky (4).
E: R.Lashley (6), A.Dubsky (1).  PO: C.Massey 2 (40), N.Earley 2 (41), M.Flores 3 (18), J.Chigbogu 4 (181), B.Germaine 8 (16), B.Moore 5 (138), C.Plant (11), L.Lindley 2 (64).
SBA: B.Moore (28).  TC: C.Massey 6 (95), N.Earley 3 (44), R.Lashley 2 (45), M.Flores 3 (18), J.Chigbogu 4 (196), B.Germaine 8 (18), B.Moore 5 (145), C.Plant 4 (35), L.Lindley 2 (65), T.Stubblefield 3 (4), A.Dubsky 2 (5).

Pitching Stats

Joliet
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
38	Ortiz, J	4.2	11	7	6	0	1	7.45
18	Janisse, S	3.1	3	0	0	0	3	3.52
46	Lara, C	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	3.18
		9	15	7	6	0	4

Pitching
BF: J.Ortiz 26, S.Janisse 13, C.Lara 4.
P-S: J.Ortiz 88-62, S.Janisse 47-34, C.Lara 14-10.

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
38	Stubblefield, T	4.0	10	6	4	0	1	6.16
21	Dubsky, A	1.2	2	2	2	4	1	3.18
10	Lollar, J	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	5.06
40	Tinius, K	1.1	2	0	0	0	0	2.08
28	Werner, J	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	2.38
		9	16	9	7	4	4

Pitching
BF: T.Stubblefield 23, A.Dubsky 11, J.Lollar 4, K.Tinius 6, J.Werner 3.
P-S: T.Stubblefield 82-54, A.Dubsky 50-26, J.Lollar 15-11, K.Tinius 24-19, J.Werner 21-12.