Bernstein, Davis help Miners split first two with Lake Erie
MARION - The Southern Illinois Miners got an outstanding start from Andrew Bernstein, who threw seven shutout innings on the mound, and four RBIs by Kyle Davis to beat the Lake Erie Crushers 5-0 at Rent One Park on Wednesday night.
Bernstein's (3-2) night began with a leadoff walk and single in the top of the first inning, but the right-hander got the next three batters out to begin a streak where he retired 19 out of 20 Lake Erie hitters, holding them without a hit in that span as well between the first and seventh innings.
On the other side, Crushers' ace Jared Koenig (7-2) was perfect through the first three innings with three strikeouts, but Southern Illinois pounced on him in the bottom of the fourth. Yeltsin Gudino led off with a single and Gianfranco Wawoe bunted his way on base before Jamey Smart walked to load the bases with none out. Davis then came up and smacked a two-run single to right field to make the score 2-0.
With Bernstein continuing to mow down the opposition, the Miners added to their lead in the sixth, when Davis came up with Smart on first base and cranked a two-run home run to left field to double the advantage to 4-0.
In the eighth, the Miners came up with their final run, as Andy Cosgrove brought in Gudino from third base with a two-out single for the 5-0 final score.
Bernstein ended up completing a career-high seven innings and surrendering just two singles, one walk and one hit-by-pitch, striking out two in his third win of the season as Southern Illinois recorded their third shutout victory in their last five games.
Offensively, Davis finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs, putting him at 61 runs batted in for the 2019 season, while Gudino had two hits and two runs scored as well to help even the midweek series in Marion.
The Miners will open a three-game end-of-the regular-season homestand tonight (Friday) at 7:05 against Evansville. Fireworks will follow the game.
Tuesday game: Miners stumble in opener with Lake Erie
MARION - The Southern Illinois Miners fell behind big early in the game on Tuesday against the Lake Erie Crushers and could not recover, taking a 7-3 loss at Rent One Park that gave the visitors the East Division title for 2019 and snapped their three-game win streak.
Lake Erie got a single and double by Aaron Hill and Emmanuel Marrero to lead off the game against Marty Anderson (5-5), and an RBI groundout by Logan Farrar made it 1-0. In the bottom of the first, Yeltsin Gudino led off with a double to put the tying run in scoring position right away with no one out, but Southern Illinois could not advance him, and the Crushers took control with a three-run top of the second inning to go in front 4-0.
Taylor Sparks hit his ninth homer of the season, a solo shot out to right field, to get the Miners back within three at 4-1 in the bottom of the second inning against Lake Erie starter Sean Johnson (4-0), but Southern Ilinois would get no closer than three runs the rest of the way. Both teams scored runs in the fifth, with a solo homer by Jake Vieth answered by Gudino's RBI single in the bottom half, and a pair of runs with two outs in the seventh for Lake Erie gave them their final total of seven for the game, while an RBI fielder's choice by Joe Duncan in the bottom of the eighth accounted for the final margin.