(Press Release, Photo Credit: Doug Timmermann)
The Southern Illinois Miners used strong starting pitching and defense, plus consistent offense to beat the Schaumburg Boomers 9-5 on the road on Monday night at Boomers Stadium and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Frontier League Division Series.
For the seventh-straight game, Southern Illinois scored in the first inning, this time before an out was recorded in the matchup between the last two Frontier League champions. Jay Austin led off the game with a double and after stealing third base,Ryan Cavan drove him in with an RBI single to center field. Chris Burke would add to that lead with a solo homer to left in the second to give the Miners a 2-0 lead through two innings.
The Miners would take advantage of Schaumburg errors to strike for single runs in the fourth and sixth innings, with both runs driven in by Marquis Riley on a single and sacrifice fly, respectively. Leading 4-0 in the seventh against the Boomers’ bullpen, back-to-back singles set up Cavan, and the Miners shortstop delivered in a big way with a three-run blast to right that made the score 7-0 in favor of the visitors.
Meanwhile, Matt Bywater (1-0) was brilliant yet again. The 2014 Frontier League Pitcher Of The Year lived up to the award, tossing seven shutout innings and allowing just four hits. The Miners ended up scoring two more times in the eighth, with another Boomers error and an RBI single by Niko Vasquez accounting for the runs. Schaumburg would get a grand slam home run and five total runs as well in the bottom of the eighth, but got no closer as Southern Illinois took a 1-0 lead in the series with their 22nd road victory of the season overall.
Cavan finished 2-for-4 with a season-best four RBIs, while Riley went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs and Austin finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Aaron Gates also scored twice in the winning effort.
The Miners will now head home to face the Boomers in Game Two on Wednesday night at Rent One Park at 7:05 p.m. The starters for both teams have yet to be determined.
