Slow start dooms Miners in Schaumburg Southern Illinois drops first two games of series
SCHAUMBURG - The Southern Illinois Miners fell behind by seven runs in the first two innings and were unable to recover, losing the game to the Schaumburg Boomers 12-3 and dropping to 0-5 in Schaumburg in 2019, as well as one game under the .500 mark at 30-31 on the season.
After the Miners failed to score despite getting their first two batters on base in the top of the first inning against former Southern Illinois pitcher Aaron Rozek (4-3), the Boomers capitalized in the bottom of the first inning by scoring two runs, one on a throwing error by Colton Pogue and one on a groundout by Nick Oddo, taking a 2-0 lead on Chase Cunningham. Schaumburg then exploded for five runs in the second inning, batting around and expanding the lead to 7-0 and chasing Cunningham (6-4) from the game thanks to another error, an RBI single by Chase Dawson, a two-run double by Quincy Nieporte and an RBI hit by Oddo.
Rozek settled down on the mound for the Boomers, but ran into trouble in the top of the fourth. Three straight one-out singles loaded the bases for Joe Duncan, who brought in the Miners' first run of the series with a sacrifice fly and made it 7-1. After Ryan Stacy got his first pro hit, another single which reloaded the bases, Cletis Avery came up and stroked a two-run, two-out single to left field to slice the deficit to 7-3.
Unfortunately, the Miners would not score again in the contest while the Boomers scored a single run in the fifth inning against Andrew Bernstein after two scoreless innings of relief by the right-hander. They also got four more runs in the sixth inning for the final 12-3 score, as the Miners remained three games back of the Boomers and River City Rascals for the final wild card playoff spot in the Frontier League.
The Miners will look to avoid a sweep in a matinee series finale at Boomers Stadium, with a 12:05 p.m. first pitch time in Schaumburg. Ryan McAuliffe will pitch for the Miners against Boomers right-hander Matt Miller before Southern Illinois returns to Marion for a six-game homestand beginning on Friday night.
Tuesday Game:
Miners drop pitcher's duel in Schaumburg series opener
The Southern Illinois Miners lost a pitcher's duel at Boomers Stadium on Tuesday night in Schaumburg, as they were shut by a final score of 1-0.
The Miners had opportunities to bring in runs in the game, but could not capitalize on them- in the second and third innings, they got the potential lead run into scoring position against former Miner Payton Lobdell (2-4), but could not execute to bring that run in, and in the bottom of the third against Marty Anderson, the Boomers were able to scratch across what would become the only run of the game.
Dylan Jones was hit by a pitch leading off and went to second base on a wild pitch by Anderson (5-2). A single by Alex Polston sent Jones to third, and he scored on Jack Parenty's sacrifice fly. Anderson would work around three walks and three hit batters in the contest by surrendering just four hits over six strong innings of work, but suffered the loss as the Miners' bats could not come up with the big hit.
After the Boomers got the lead, Southern Illinois also got the tying run into scoring position in three straight innings against Lobdell, but stranded that run on base. Anderson and the Miners' bullpen were also able to prevent Schaumburg from adding to their lead, but the Boomers' bullpen allowed just one baserunner in the final three innings to seal the deal.
Arturo Nieto and Kyle Davis each had two hits as part of a nine-hit day for the Miners' offense in the loss, which dropped the club to 30-30 on the season and three games out of the second wild card playoff spot.