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Miners sweep Black Sox in exhibition twinbill

MARION - The Southern Illinois Miners opened their exhibition season with a doubleheader sweep of the traveling Black Sox club Friday at Rent One Park.

The Miners won the first game, 7-3, and took the second, 10-2.

In the opener, returning outfielder Nolan Earley singled for the first hit in the opening frame but was stranded. Austin Call tied it with an RBI single and Earley doubled home another returning outfielder, London Lindley, to put the Miners ahead in the third.

Earley then scored when Chance Shepard blasted a homer off the new video board in right-center field to make it 4-1. Lindley doubled to drive in two more runs in the sixth.

In the second game, the Miners got RBI hits from newcomers Julian Russell, Corey Dempster and Chris Scura to take a 3-2 lead. Cletis Avery added an RBI single in the third.

Romeo Cortina, a returning player, hit a sacrifice fly and Joe Dudek ripped a two-run single in the seventh to increase the lead.

With exhibition rules allowing the winning home team to bat in the bottom of the ninth, Cortina supplied a rarity with an inside-the-park homer in the Miners' final at-bat.

The Miners host the Gateway Grizzlies in an early morning exhibition game Tuesday, then travel to Gateway on Thursday.