SAUGET — It's been said often and paraphrased many different ways, but simply put you cannot score enough runs to ever feel safe at GCS Ballpark.
The Southern Illinois Miners took a five-run lead into the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night against the Gateway Grizzlies but saw three home runs leave the park's snug confines in that frame and ultimately were stung with a 9-8 loss by Charlie Lisk's walkoff RBI single in another wild Frontier League contest.
The stunning setback left the Miners (13-10) with yet another numb feeling a night after giving up a two-run lead in the ninth inning only to rally back for an extra-inning win.
The Grizzlies' (8-15) latest comeback hinged mostly on two consecutive swings on the first two pitches of the night by Miners all-star reliever Jake McMurran, who has been the club's most reliable arm out of the bullpen in the opening weeks of the season.
But in the eighth, McMurran inherited two baserunners with two outs after newcomer Derrick Miramontes, who had given up a one-out solo homer to Stephen Holdren, put two more runners on base with a walk and single sandwiched around a groundout.
McMurran's first pitch to Chad Rothford was sent over the wall for a three-run homer that brought the Grizzlies within a run, then on the very next pitch, Alex Kerins also sent one over the short porch in right-center field to tie the game. Two pitches later, Breck Draper flied out to deep center for the final out.
The Miners were put down emphatically in the top of the ninth by 6-foot-4 rookie righthander Shaun Ellis, who struck out Justin Randall, Brad Miller and Jereme Milons in succession to set the stage for a walkoff victory.
Mike Damchuk, who like Miramontes joined the Miners' bullpen in the last few days, took the mound in the ninth and appeared in good shape after getting Brad Thoma to pop out and then inducing a ground ball to first base by Joe Ubbenga. But Miller fell while trying to flip the ball to Damchuk covering the base for an error rather than having two outs.
Then after the Grizzlies' hot-hitting outfielder Joseph Scaperotta drew a walk, longtime Gateway nemesis Lisk singled up the middle against a drawn-in defense to provide the winning tally.
Holdren and fellow outfielder Jareck West both had three of the Grizzlies' 13 hits on a night when eight different Gateway players had hits and six scored runs — although it trailed 8-3 with just six outs left.
