MARION, Ill. -- Ross Stout hurled his league-leading sixth complete game of the season, allowing only a seventh inning single by Brandon Jones, as the Windy City ThunderBolts shut out the Southern Illinois Miners, 5-0.
With the victory, the ThunderBolts clinched a postseason berth for the second consecutive season and pulled to within a game of the West Division-leading Miners.
Stout (11-3) notched his eleventh consecutive winning decision with a dominant performance.
The Californian held the Frontier League's top offense hitless until Jones yanked a grounder through the left side of the infield with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
In all, Stout struck out nine batters while walking four, his seventh performance of the season that lasted at least nine innings. He finished the night with a flourish, picking up the final out by whiffing Brendan Akashian with two men on base.
The 'Bolts' offense took care of the rest, providing opportunistic run support against Southern Illinois starter Chris Little (8-4).
A three-run third inning featured a bases-loaded walk to Mike Sullivan coupled with a Mike Coles sacrifice fly and a Phil Hawke RBI single.
In the fourth, Josh Horn reached base via an error on Jones, coming eventually around to score on a Little wild pitch.
Two innings later, a pair of Miners errors allowed Justin Tellam to reach second base where Scott Billak delivered him with an RBI double.
The Windy City victory prevented a three-game sweep at the hands of Southern Illinois; the teams closed out the season series with the Miners winning seven of the 12 meetings.
The Thunderbolts next head out on the road to Evansville, Indiana, beginning a three-game series with the Otters on Friday night at 6:05 at Bosse Field. Left-hander Isaac Hess will start for Windy City.
