Jereme Milons hit a two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to lead the Southern Illinois Miners to an 8-5 victory over the ThunderBolts Saturday night at Rent One Park in Marion, IL.
For the second straight day, the Miners got on the board with a first inning run. Jereme Milons led off with a single and eventually came in to score on a Stephen Head sac fly. Windy City tied them up in the fourth. After a Kent Gerst single, JT Restko’s RBI double made it 1-1, but the Miners bats broke loose in the bottom of the fourth.
Ryan Quigley pitched three good innings before Southern Illinois got to him in the fourth. Quigley walked three in the inning and Jesse Wight and Stephen Head delivered big hits to put the Miners ahead 5-1 after four.
The score remained there for a while as Southern starter Dustin Brader pitched well through six innings. He was lifted after just 67 pitches, having allowed five hits, and the ThunderBolts jumped on the Miners bullpen for the second game in a row. Donnie Ecker started the seventh inning with a single and scored on a Zach Aakhus double. Aakhus scored on Guillermo Martinez’s single. In the eighth, they tied up the game once more on RBI hits from Ecker and Mike Torres that scored Ryne White and Tim Alberts. Ecker and Torres, though, were left at third and second bases with one out, and the Bolts failed to take the lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Miners got their leadoff man on. Brendan Akashian eventually advanced to third base with two outs and Bradley Blanks walked Justin Randall to get to Milons. The man who had already scored four runs in the series added one more big hit, a 2-2 homer out to left field that gave the Miners the 8-5 victory.
Jake MacMurran got the win in relief (1-0) while Blanks took the loss (0-1) Southern Illinois goes for the sweep tomorrow night at 5:05. Dustin Williams makes his Bolts debut against Eric Barrett (1-0). The game can be heard on sportsjuice.com.
