(Courtesy Southern Illinois Miners)
The Southern Illinois Miners scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back from there, getting strong pitching and piling on the runs in the middle innings in an 11-4, wire-to-wire pounding of the Florence Freedom on Saturday night at Rent One Park.
The win was the 441st in franchise history, giving manager Mike Pinto second place on the Frontier League’s all-time managerial wins list, breaking a tie with former Washington and Lake Erie manager John Massarelli.
In the first, Jay Austin led off with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Frank Martinez to make it 1-0. Florence starter Jorge Marban then got wild, walking three consecutive batters and four total in the first inning, including Marquis Riley with the bases loaded to make it 2-0.
In the third, the Miners would score three more. Niko Vasquez led off with a solo homer, and after an error and yet another walk by Marban loaded the bases, Steve Marino laced a one-out double down the left field line making the score 5-0.
Southern Illinois would then put the game away in the fifth. Against reliever Michael O’Neal, Aaron Gates led off with a walk and Chris Burke was hit by a pitch. After Marino walked to load the bases, Matt Jones hit an RBI single to make it 6-0. After Austin beat out a potential double-play grounder for an RBI fielder’s choice, Ryan Cavan slammed a three-run homer down the left field line to make it 10-0. He was followed by Vasquez, who crushed a 3-2 pitch high and deep into the night- a moonshot to left and his second long ball of the contest to make it 11-0.
Miguel Ramirez (9-4) took over from there, dominating Florence to the tune of seven innings pitched and just one earned run allowed, with two walks and eight strikeouts to win his sixth consecutive start since the All-Star break. It was the third time Ramirez had faced the Freedom this season, and the right-hander finished with an ERA of 2.04 in 22 innings across three starts against them.
Florence would score twice more in the eighth, but the damage was done as the Miners kept pace in the tight East division playoff race.
Vasquez led the charge for the Miners, going 2-for-3 with two walks and two home runs, plus three runs scored. Cavan went 2-for-4 with his three-run homer, while Gates finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
The Miners will go for the series win in the rubber match on Sunday evening starting at 5:05 p.m. Matt Bywater will be on the hill for the Miners against Florence’s Chuck Weaver.
