Miners 3 Bolts 1
CRESTWOOD, IL –Jake Fisher threw eight strong innings, but the ThunderBolts lost their Thursday afternoon contest 3-1 to the Southern Illinois at Standard Bank Stadium.
Windy City trailed early when the Miners plated a run in the first. Leadoff batter Jon Eisen was hit by a pitch and stole second. He scored with two outs on Chris Burke’s base hit.
It remained 1-0 into the fourth, when the Miners struck for two more. Jose Gonzalez and Burke hit back-to-back singles and Matt Howard’s fielder’s choice scored Gonzalez. Steve Marino then hit a two-out double to score Howard, making the score 3-0.
Pitching dominated after that. Fisher had two separate strings of seven straight batters retired and Miners starter Rick Teasley allowed only one baserunner between the third and seventh innings.
In the eighth, the Bolts got on the board for the first time. Matt Scioscia singled and Doug Joyce walked to put two men on with one out. After Ty Stetson grounded into a fielder’s choice Jon Mestas hit a groundball that second baseman Jon Eisen couldn’t handle and pinch runner Brandon Hohl came in to score. Mike Torres walked to load the bases, but reliever Derrick Miramontes got Ryan Soares to fly out to end the inning.
Miramontes got the final three outs in the ninth without incident to wrap up his third save in the 3-1 Miners win. Teasley (2-0) did not allow an earned run in 7.2 innings to get the win and Fisher (1-2) allowed three runs in his eight innings, taking the loss.
The ThunderBolts will head out on a three-game roadtrip beginning Friday in Washington, PA. Game one of the series against the Washington Wild Things will feature Markus Solbach (1-1, 0.64) pitching for the ThunderBolts against last year’s Pitcher of the Year Scott Dunn (1-1, 6.60). The game begins at 6:05 CDT and fans can hear the broadcast on WXAV 88.3 FM and wxav.com.
Box Score
