Miners Fall In Walk-Off Fashion To Grizzlies

From the Southern Illinois Miners

The Southern Illinois Miners held a 2-1 lead entering the bottom of the ninth inning against the Gateway Grizzlies on Thursday night in Sauget, but could not hold it, as the home team came back and won on a walk-off base-on-balls by Dan Holst by a score of 3-2, denying the Miners a series sweep.

In the 1,000th game in Miners franchise history, Southern Illinois grabbed the lead right away, as Craig Massoni hit an RBI infield single against his former team in the top of the first with two outs to make it 1-0. Thanks to the pitching of Zach Cooper, who tied his season and career-high with eight strikeouts, the Grizzlies trailed by that score until the fifth inning, when Blake Brown’s sacrifice fly brought home Matt Hearn and tied the game at 1-1. The unearned run, with an error in the frame by the Miners, would be all that Cooper allowed in the contest in addition to five hits and three walks in six innings of work.

Meanwhile, the Miners got that run back immediately, as Hearn’s error in center field allowed Ben Moore to go to second base. After a sacrifice bunt by Kurt Wertz, Jr., Southern Illinois took a 2-1 lead on a sacrifice fly by Culver Plant to deep right. After Cooper departed, Kyle Tinius and John Lollar kept the Grizzlies at bay, with Tinius striking out the side in the seventh inning and Lollar working out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth.

In the ninth, however, Gateway would come back against Chris DeBoo. After a lineout for the first out, back-to-back walks put the tying run in scoring position at second base. DeBoo struck out Terry McClure looking for the second out, but in the next at-bat, on a 2-2 pitch, Jack Hranec singled to tie the game at 2-2. After Chase Simmons followed with a walk to load the bases, Holst came up against Nick Palacios and drew a walk to force in the winning run.

Southern Illinois won the series against the Grizzlies to finish 5-4 on their nine-game road swing, and will next head home for a series against the Normal CornBelters over the weekend. All three games of the series will start at 7:05 p.m., and include postgame fireworks as well, with Ethan Gibbons taking the hill for the Miners against Normal in the first game on Friday night.

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: C.Massoni (7), N.Earley (6).  HP: L.Lindley (2).  RBI: C.Massoni (29), C.Plant (4).  SF: C.Plant (1).  SB: C.Massey (5), K.Wertz Jr. (2).  Team LOB: 7.

Fielding
A: B.Wiley 3 (25), C.Massoni (2), C.Plant 2 (38), Z.Cooper (3).
DP: 1 (B. Wiley(2B) – C. Plant(SS) – C. Massoni(1B)).  E: R.Lashley (9), B.Wiley (6).  PO: B.Wiley (18), C.Massoni 6 (25), N.Earley (63), B.Moore 12 (236), C.Plant 3 (25), L.Lindley 2 (94), Z.Cooper (5).  TC: R.Lashley (75), B.Wiley 5 (49), C.Massoni 7 (27), N.Earley (67), B.Moore 12 (251), C.Plant 5 (66), L.Lindley 2 (95), Z.Cooper 2 (8).

Batting
RBI: B.Brown (34), J.Hranec (3), D.Holst (2).
SF: B.Brown (2).
Team LOB: 14.

Fielding
A: B.Sakurai 3 (17), J.Hranec (3), C.Simmons (12), E.Rogers 3 (82), M.Bartlett (13), W.Landsheft (5), J.Sigman (2).  DP: 1 (B. Sakurai(2B) – M. Bartlett(SS) – J. Hranec(1B)).  E: M.Hearn (4).  PB: C.Simmons (2).
PO: M.Hearn 2 (81), B.Sakurai 3 (10), B.Brown (38), T.McClure 2 (50), J.Hranec 10 (87), C.Simmons 7 (161), M.Bartlett (11), W.Landsheft (4).
SBA: C.Simmons 2 (25).  TC: M.Hearn 3 (102), B.Sakurai 6 (28), B.Brown (40), T.McClure 2 (52), J.Hranec 11 (90), C.Simmons 8 (173), E.Rogers 3 (137), M.Bartlett 2 (26), W.Landsheft 2 (10), J.Sigman (2).

Pitching Stats

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
39	Cooper, Z	6.0	5	1	0	3	8	4.23
40	Tinius, K	1.0	1	0	0	0	3	2.52
10	Lollar, J	1.0	1	0	0	2	0	6.10
12	DeBoo, C	0.2	1	2	2	3	1	5.27
1	Palacios, N	0.0	0	0	0	1	0	4.84
		8.2	8	3	2	9	12

Pitching
BF: Z.Cooper 27, K.Tinius 4, J.Lollar 5, C.DeBoo 6, N.Palacios 1.
P-S: Z.Cooper 115-76, K.Tinius 23-16, J.Lollar 16-7, C.DeBoo 31-16, N.Palacios 6-2.  WP: C.DeBoo (1).

Gateway
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
13	Landsheft, W	6.0	5	2	1	2	5	4.27
18	Sigman, J	2.0	0	0	0	0	2	1.54
25	Elwood, M	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	3.00
		9	5	2	1	2	9

Pitching
BF: W.Landsheft 27, J.Sigman 6, M.Elwood 3.  P-S: W.Landsheft 97-63, J.Sigman 29-19, M.Elwood 12-7.