Miners drop series to Joliet, now 2-4 on current homestand SI to host Grizzlies Tuesday through Thursday

MARION - The Southern Illinois Miners fell behind early Sunday evening and could not dig out of the hole as their offense was held to four hits for the second day in a row in a 5-1 loss to the Joliet Slammers at Rent One Park in the rubber game of the weekend series.

Harrison Bragg's solo home run put Joliet ahead 1-0 in the second inning, and the Slammers would put up single runs on an RBI triple by London Lindley and another solo home run by Peyton Isaacson in the third and fourth innings, respectively, to build a 3-0 lead. The visitors would add two more runs on RBI hits by Dash Winningham and Tyler Bordner in the top of the eighth to round out their scoring and lead 5-0.

The Miners' bats, meanwhile, were stifled by Joliet starter Matt Quintana, who, after allowing a two-out single in the second inning to Arturo Nieto, proceeded to retire the next 13 batters he faced. In the bottom of the eighth, Jarrod Watkins led off with a triple and Nieto walked to force Quintana (3-3) from the game.

Three batters later, with two outs, Cletis Avery's RBI double broke up the shutout, but Southern Illinois would get no closer in suffering their fourth-straight home series defeat to the Slammers.

The Miners return to action on Tuesday, July 16, when they host the Gateway Grizzlies at Rent One Park and continue their homestand.

SATURDAY GAME: Miners fall in 11 innings to Joliet

The Southern Illinois Miners lost 3-2 in eleven innings on Saturday to the Joliet Slammers, evening the weekend series at one game apiece at Rent One Park.

The visitors took the lead almost immediately against Chase Cunningham, as Dash Winningham's RBI double in the first inning scored Riley Krane from first base and made it 1-0. That lead was increased to 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning when Chaz Meadows singled home Harrison Bragg, but the all-star Cunningham was able to minimize the damage to just those two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings for his eleventh-straight "quality start."

He was in line for the loss despite the strong performance, but the Miners would come back. In the fourth inning, Kyle Davis led off with a walk and went to third base on a fielder's choice plus an error on Bragg on a ground ball by Jamey Smart. A sacrifice fly by Alex Santana then cut the deficit in half and made it 2-1, but the Miners would be unable to equalize until the eighth inning.

With one out in the bottom of the frame, Gianfranco Wawoe smacked his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot off Mario Samuel (3-1) to tie the game at 2-2. The game went to extra innings still knotted at 2-2, and after Samuel and Jake Godfrey (1-1) tossed scoreless innings in the tenth, Godfrey got two outs in the eleventh with the International Tiebreaker in effect before Bragg hit a go-ahead RBI single off the left field wall.

With the score 3-2, the Miners were unable to move the tying run off second base in the bottom half as they suffered the defeat, their first in extra innings at home this season. Southern Illinois was held to just four hits offensively, with Wawoe accounting for two of those in a 2-for-5 performance, while also leaving ten runners on base for the game.

FRIDAY GAME: Miners romp past Joliet in first game after All-Star break

Playing before a paid crowd of more than 5,000, the Southern Illinois Miners roared into the season's second half with an 8-0 pasting of visiting Joliet.

The Miners added 10 hits to go with their eight runs and the advantage could have been much greater as the Miners stranded runners on second and third with nobody out in the second inning; a runner on second in the third inning; a runner on third in the fourth inning, and runners on second and third in the fifth inning.

Pacing the offense for the Miners were Wawoe, Avery and Smart with two hits apiece. Stephen Lohr also drove in a pair with a third-inning single. Kyle Davis added an RBI single as did Arturo Nieto. Joe Duncan contributed a sac fly.

Winning pitcher was Marty Anderson, who worked seven scoreless innings, scattering six hits while striking out five and walking three.

Managing Editor John Homan contributed to this story.