Miners Surge Past CornBelters In Series Opener

From the Southern Illinois Miners

The Southern Illinois Miners closed out the month of June with a bang, rebounding from a 3-0 first-inning deficit to score eight unanswered runs in front of a huge crowd at Rent One Park on Friday night for an 8-4 win over the Normal CornBelters.

After a pregame ceremony honoring the nation’s military, the CornBelters took the lead on a three-run homer by Nolan Meadows off of Ethan Gibbons in the top of the first inning. But Southern Illinois would strike back in the second for two runs on a bases-loaded walk by Ryan Sluder followed by an RBI single by Craig Massey to make it 3-2. In the third inning, Southern Illinois drew even at 3-3 on a passed ball with men at first and third base. Kurt Wertz, Jr. then gave the Miners the lead for good with a drive to right-center field that was lost in the sky by Diego Cedeno and turned into a two-run, inside-the-park home run and a 5-3 lead.

Gibbons (5-2), meanwhile, settled down in a big way, working six innings in the game and allowing just one hit after the homer by Meadows in the first. The Miners’ offense scored insurance runs on the lead as well- after Brett Wiley led off the fifth inning with a double, Craig Massoni singled him home to make it 6-3, then Wiley knocked in Ryan Lashley in the sixth with an RBI single after Lashley had tripled to left-center for a 7-3 advantage. The Miners’ final run came in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Wiley, with Normal scoring a run on a groundout against Corey Sessions in the ninth for the final margin.

The Miners pounded out 13 hits as a team in front of 6,177 fans in attendance, with Wertz going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs to lead the way. Wiley finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in, with Lashley and Massey adding two hits apiece in the balanced offensive attack to secure the team’s fourth win in a row at Rent One Park. Gibbons got the win on the mound for the Miners, his team-leading fifth of the season, walking two and striking out seven while Sessions secured his second save by pitching the final three innings in relief.

Southern Illinois will look to take the series on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m., with Tyler Stubblefield taking the mound against Normal’s Julio Vivas.

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: J.Solorzano (5).
HP: S.Chirino (2).
HR: N.Meadows (2).
RBI: N.Meadows 3 (23), D.Cedeno (13).
SB: J.Fletcher (4).
Team LOB: 4.

Fielding
A: S.Chirino (130), J.Fletcher 5 (82), M.Torres (66).
DP: 2 (J. Fletcher(2B) – S. Chirino(SS) – A. Dudley(1B),J. Fletcher(2B) – A. Dudley(1B)).  PB: C.Lepre (8).  PO: S.Chirino 3 (67), A.Dudley 7 (351), J.Solorzano 3 (15), J.Fletcher 2 (54), D.Cedeno 3 (87), C.Lepre 6 (270).
TC: S.Chirino 4 (204), A.Dudley 7 (387), J.Solorzano 3 (18), J.Fletcher 7 (141), D.Cedeno 3 (90), M.Torres (98), C.Lepre 6 (294).

Batting
2B: B.Wiley (3).  3B: R.Lashley (1).  HR: K.Wertz Jr. (5).
RBI: C.Massey (18), B.Wiley 2 (8), C.Massoni (30), K.Wertz Jr. 2 (11), R.Sluder (3).  SF: B.Wiley (2).  Team LOB: 8.

Fielding
A: C.Massey 7 (97), R.Lashley (52), B.Wiley 3 (28), C.Massoni (3), C.Sessions (8).  DP: 2 (C. Sessions(P) – C. Massey(SS) – C. Massoni(1B),B. Wiley(2B) – C. Massey(SS) – C. Massoni(1B)).  E: B.Wiley (7).
PO: C.Massey 2 (74), B.Wiley (19), C.Massoni 10 (35), N.Earley 2 (65), K.Wertz Jr. 2 (19), Z.Taylor 8 (29), R.Sluder (9), E.Gibbons (5).
SBA: Z.Taylor (3).  TC: C.Massey 9 (173), R.Lashley (76), B.Wiley 5 (54), C.Massoni 11 (38), N.Earley 2 (69), K.Wertz Jr. 2 (21), Z.Taylor 8 (32), R.Sluder (9), C.Sessions (12), E.Gibbons (9).

Pitching Stats

Normal
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
34	Hasenbeck, M	3.0	7	5	5	3	3	6.75
	Gendron, C	3.0	4	2	2	1	1	6.00
4	Herrera, A	2.0	2	1	1	1	2	1.42
		8	13	8	8	5	6

Pitching
BF: M.Hasenbeck 17, C.Gendron 14, A.Herrera 9.
P-S: M.Hasenbeck 62-28, C.Gendron 44-25, A.Herrera 31-20.

S Illinois
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
17	Gibbons, E	6.0	3	3	3	2	7	5.00
18	Sessions, C	3.0	3	1	1	0	1	4.53
		9	6	4	4	2	8

Pitching
BF: E.Gibbons 24, C.Sessions 11. P-S: E.Gibbons 107-63, C.Sessions 44-29.  WP: E.Gibbons (1).

MINERS ROSTER MOVE:   Activated RHP Jared Messer from the injured list.