(Courtesy Southern Illinois Miners; Photo Credit: Jonathan LeBlond)
The Southern Illinois Miners bounced back from their two losses to the Schaumburg Boomers over the weekend by erasing a 4-0 deficit in the fifth inning to come back and beat the Frontier Greys, 5-4, at Rent One Park on Tuesday. 
The first four frames resulted in a pitcher’s duel between Rick Teasley and the Greys’ Clint Wright, with neither allowing any runs. In the fifth, the Greys took the lead on an RBI single by Jon Minucci, and then with two outs and the bases loaded, a bases-clearing double by Joe Rapp. That made it 4-0 Greys through four-and-a-half innings.
The Miners then dug themselves out of the hole over the next three innings. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Ryan Cavan and Tyler Booth hit back-to-back singles for the second time in the ballgame. After a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, Jon Eisen bounced a ball up the middle that Greys’ shortstop Donald Blunt misplayed into an error, scoring Cavan to make it 4-1.
Jared McDonald then followed with an RBI single to make it 4-2 Greys, and Frank Martinez’s grounder to first scored another run, making the deficit just one run at 4-3.
Steve Marino then doubled with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch, scoring on Cavan’s fielder’s choice to tie the score in the sixth. In the seventh, against reliever Jarret Leverett, Eisen reached on an infield single, and the pitcher threw wild into the crowd to move him to second. After a groundout and a lineout moved Eisen to third with two outs, another wild pitch brought home the winning run.
Teasley (4-0) rebounded from the rocky fifth inning to pitch seven frames, fanning five for his fourth win of the year, while Derrick Miramontes got his sixth save of the season in the ninth. The Miners will go for the series win on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m., with Tyler Lavigne on the hill for the Miners, opposed by Kyle Blair for the Greys.
The Southern Illinois Miners are the 2012 Frontier League Champions and have been awarded the Frontier League Organization of the Year award three times since their inception. They also set a new Frontier League attendance record in 2007, their inaugural season. For ticket information, please contact the Rent One Park box office at 618-998-8499. For any additional information, visit our website at www.southernillinoisminers.com.
