Miners explode for 11 runs, 17 hits against Windy City

MARION - The Southern Illinois Miners broke their first three-game losing streak of the season in emphatic fashion, scoring four times in the first inning to lead wire-to-wire, then tacking on seven runs in their final four turns at bat to rout the Windy City ThunderBolts 11-0 at Rent One Park, improving to 13-2 on their home turf in 2019.

After Marty Anderson worked around a walk and an error in the top of the first inning, the Miners took control immediately against Windy City starter Kenny Mathews (1-5). Bryant Flete, Anthony Jimenez and Gianfranco Wawoe all singled to load the bases with no one out, and Stephen Lohr drove in Flete with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Kyle Davis then followed with an automatic double to left-center field for a 2-0 lead, and Jarrod Watkins brought in two more runs with a double of his own to stretch the lead to 4-0.

That was all that Anderson (3-0) needed, with the southpaw tossing six shutout frames for his third-straight win, allowing just three hits and striking out six to offset five walks and two Miners errors. Three relievers threw one scoreless inning each as well to finish off the shutout, the Miners' second such victory of the season.

But the offensive onslaught was not done either for Southern Illinois- in the fifth inning, Jimenez cranked his first home run as a Miner out to left-center field to make it 5-0, and back-to-back doubles by Wawoe and Lohr pushed the advantage out to 6-0. Then, in the sixth, Flete singled home two more runs for an 8-0 cushion. Davis slammed a solo home run out to left-center field in the seventh to increase the lead to 9-0, and Wawoe capped the scoring with a home run of his own, a two-run blast to left field in the eighth, for the final 11-0 score.

The 17 hits, five doubles, three home runs and eight total extra-base hits were all season-highs for the Miners as a team, while both Wawoe and Davis finished a triple away from the cycle in going 3-for-5 and combining for five runs scored and four RBIs to lead the charge. Flete also went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Jimenez, Watkins and Joe Duncan all enjoyed two-hit nights as the Miners improved to 7-0 against Windy City this season.

Southern Illinois was rained out of Wednesday's game and a doubleheader was scheduled with Windy city for Thursday evening after press time.