Miners Beaten Late By Crushers

AVON, OH – The Southern Illinois Miners and Lake Erie Crushers were deadlocked at 1-1 through seven full innings on Tuesday night, but an unearned run scored by the Crushers in the bottom of the eighth sent the Miners to a 2-1 defeat in the series opener at Sprenger Stadium.

Lake Erie scored a run with a two-out RBI double from Sean Hurley in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead against Corey Sessions (0-4), but the Miners’ right-hander would settle down to pitch a gem, allowing just four scattered hits and one walk with four strikeouts through the first seven innings of the game in the longest outing by a Miners starter this season.

Southern Illinois would tie the score in the top of the third thanks to a two-out RBI single by Nolan Earley, one of his three hits on the night. That made the game 1-1 against Jordan Kurokawa, and the Lake Erie starter also allowed just the one tally in seven innings of work in the game as both pitchers stayed in control of the contest throughout the middle innings.

In the bottom of the eighth, however, Parker Norris led off with a pinch-hit single and moved to second on a passed ball. Josh McAdams then singled Norris to third, and when he attempted to go to second on the play, a throwing error by Ryan Lashley allowed Norris to score from third and give Lake Erie a 2-1 lead. After McAdams was thrown out by Earley trying to score on a fly ball later in the inning, the Miners loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth against Chandler Jagodzinski, but could not scratch across the tying run in the defeat.

Earley led the Miners with a 3-for-4 game that included a double, and London Lindley went 2-for-3 with a run scored. The Miners will look to even the series on Wednesday night at 6:05 p.m., with Zach Cooper pitching for Southern Illinois against Lake Erie’s Adam Quintana.

BOX SCORE

Batting
2B: N.Earley (3). HP: J.McKeithan (3). RBI: N.Earley (11). CS: L.Lindley (3). SB: L.Lindley (8).
Team LOB: 11.

Fielding:  A: C.Massey 5 (45), C.Plant 6 (14), L.Lindley (1), C.Sessions (5).  DP: 2 (L. Lindley(CF) – B. Moore(C),C. Massey(2B) – C. Plant(SS) – J. Chigbogu(1B)). E: R.Lashley (5).
PB: B.Moore (1). PO: C.Massey (27), N.Earley (34), M.Flores 2 (7), J.Chigbogu 13 (160), B.Moore 5 (117), C.Plant (6), L.Lindley (53). SBA: B.Moore (23). TC: C.Massey 6 (73), N.Earley (36), R.Lashley (39), M.Flores 2 (7), J.Chigbogu 13 (175), B.Moore 5 (120), C.Plant 7 (21), L.Lindley 2 (54), C.Sessions (7).

Batting
2B: J.Dean (3), S.Hurley (10). RBI: S.Hurley (15). SB: J.Dean (4). Team LOB: 3.

Fielding A: J.Dean 5 (59), C.Lenahan 3 (28), T.Lubach 2 (16), M.Casper 5 (39). CS: T.Lubach (1).
E: S.Hurley (1). PO: C.Oliver (39), S.Hurley (29), T.Lubach 7 (146), C.Hofmann (29), M.Casper 2 (18), J.McAdams 14 (131). SBA: T.Lubach 2 (22). TC: C.Oliver (45), J.Dean 5 (105), C.Lenahan 3 (47), S.Hurley 2 (32), T.Lubach 9 (163), C.Hofmann (35), M.Casper 7 (57), J.McAdams 14 (138).

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
18	Sessions, C	7.0	6	2	1	1	4	3.86
40	Tinius, K	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	1.76
		8	6	2	1	1	4

Lake Erie
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
36	Kurokawa, J	7.0	5	1	1	2	6	3.06
17	Ghidotti, K	1.0	3	0	0	0	1	12.00
29	Jagodzinski, C	1.0	1	0	0	1	0	1.00
		9	9	1	1	3	7

BF: C.Sessions 27, K.Tinius 2.
P-S: C.Sessions 87-59, K.Tinius 5-4.

BF: J.Kurokawa 27, K.Ghidotti 6, C.Jagodzinski 6.
P-S: J.Kurokawa 96-65, K.Ghidotti 27-16, C.Jagodzinski 20-10.