Home Baseball Miners Drop Pitcher’s Duel In Florence

Miners Drop Pitcher’s Duel In Florence

by Jason Guerette

The Southern Illinois Miners had ace left-hander Matt Bywater pitch a complete game, allowing just two runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts, but it was not enough as Florence’s Jeremy Gooding out-dueled the reigning Pitcher of the Year in a 2-1 loss to the Freedom on Friday night at UC Health Stadium.

All of the runs that were scored in the ballgame came in the first inning. Aaron Gates led off with a walk and went to second on a passed ball before back-to-back singles by Niko Vasquez and Frank Martinez drove him home for a 1-0 Miners lead. Florence struck back on an RBI double by Collins Cuthrell and an RBI triple by Sam Eberle, the latter with two outs, off of Bywater (7-3) to take a 2-1 advantage.

That would be all that both teams would get as the starters clamped down on the opposition from then on out. Gooding (5-2) finished with seven innings of work for Florence, striking out ten and walking two to earn the win. Bywater, meanwhile, was even more dominant after the first frame, not allowing the Freedom offense a single hit after their early rally and permitting only three total baserunners on two walks and an error the rest of the way.

In the ninth, Joe Rapp sent a deep fly ball to left that was caught at the wall, nearly tying the game late, but the Miners dropped the series opener on the road. With his six punchouts, Bywater surpassed 100 strikeouts on the season, marking the fourth time ever that a Miners pitcher has fanned 100 or more in a single campaign. He also became the first Miner ever to do it more than once, as he struck out 114 last season en route to Pitcher of the Year honors.

The Miners will look to even the series on Saturday night at 5:05 p.m. CT, with Adam Lopez starting on the mound for Southern Illinois.

+ posts

Jason Guerette is the Grizzlies' Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations and the "Voice of the Grizzlies." 2023 will be his second season with the organization, handling lead broadcasting duties on the Grizzlies Media Network as well as being in charge of all team press releases and game-day media materials.

2023 will also be Jason's ninth season in the Frontier League after spending 2014-21 in the same role with the Southern Illinois Miners. Overall, he has broadcasted close to 800 games in the league, including playoffs. During the baseball offseason, he serves as a play-by-play broadcaster for Manhattan College and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with games being seen on ESPN+ among other platforms.

In addition to broadcasting, Jason works as a public address announcer for Seton Hall University women's basketball as well as Columbia University men's and women's basketball. He also spent nine years working "behind the scenes" as a freelance board operator and highlight editor at Westwood One for their coverage of the NFL, NCAA football, and NCAA basketball.

Jason graduated from Seton Hall in 2012 with B.A. in Communication Studies and a minor in Broadcasting & Visual Media.

Related Articles