Miners Drop Slugfest To Grizzlies

form the Southern Illinois Miners

The Southern Illinois Miners fell 8-7 at GCS Ballpark in Sauget to the Gateway Grizzlies in a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair on Wednesday night, evening their series at one game apiece and ending their three-game win streak.

Gateway again took an early 1-0 lead, this time on an RBI single by Terry McClure in the first inning against Corey Sessions, but Ryan Lashley tied the score leading off the next inning with his team-leading 13th homer of the season at 1-1. A pair of Gateway errors then put runners on second and third base with still no one out in the inning, and Craig Massoni’s RBI groundout followed by Ben Moore’s RBI single increased the lead to 3-1.

In the top of the third inning, Craig Massey tripled Lashley in from first base to make the score 4-1 Southern Illinois.

Gateway would respond, however, as a sacrifice fly by Evan Rogers in the bottom of the third inning made it 4-2, and after an error by Lashley with two outs in the fourth inning, Brent Gillespie tied the game at 4-4 with a home run to right-center field. The Miners would again bounce right back in the fifth inning against Gateway starter Vince Molesky, mounting a two-out rally against him with RBI singles by Lashley and Brett Wiley putting Southern Illinois back in front 6-4.

That lead was also short-lived, as the Grizzlies hit three consecutive solo home runs to open the bottom of the fifth and take the lead at 7-6. The Miners went down without a run in the sixth inning, but were then able to tie the score in the seventh frame when Nolan Earley knocked Molesky out of the game with a solo homer, his 10th of the season, to make it 7-7.

Unfortunately, in the bottom half of the seventh, the Grizzlies took the lead for good on an RBI single by Brent Sakurai off of Kyle Tinius (2-4), while the Miners’ bats were silenced by the Grizzlies’ bullpen late in the ballgame as they dropped the second game of the series.
Lashley led the offensive charge for the Miners, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored, a home run and two RBIs, while Earley finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Four other Miners each drove home one run each as well, but it was not enough as Gateway pounded out 15 hits in the game, out-slugging the Miners 15 to eight, to even the midweek set.
The Miners will send Chris Washington to the hill at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday night in the rubber match of the three-game series, with the Grizzlies countering with Alec Kisena.

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.