MARION - The setting was all-too familiar for the Southern Illinois Miners: Tenth inning, bases loaded, one out, Tim Dorn at the plate.One day beforehand, Dorn faced this exact situation, and delivered with a game-winning, two-run single. Monday night, he took a slightly different approach, but came up just as big.
With the score tied and the winning run 90 feet away, Dorn leaned his left arm into a fastball from Slippery Rock's Matt Keller. The hit by pitch forced Miners shortstop Mike Scanzano home, giving Southern Illinois a 2-1 win, and a series sweep, over the Sliders at Rent One Park."That's Tim's role, to end games like that," Miners catcher Rob Wirth said. "That's why he's here, for situations like that, when runners are in scoring position. That's his job, and he does a darn good job of it."Sliders reliever Jon Tapper hit Scanzano to start the 10th. After second baseman Ralph Santana sacrificed Scanzano to second base, pinch hitter Jose Torres was walked and Wirth hit a single into left field, loading the bases and forcing Tapper out of the game.Keller's first pitch to the 6-foot-8 Dorn was high and inside, but Dorn leaned away from it."One of his teammates was yelling, 'You've got to wear that!'," Miners manager Mike Pinto said.Apparently, Dorn heard the advice. The second pitch was thrown to nearly the exact same spot, and this time, Dorn took one for the team, picking up his 28th RBI in an unconventional way and sending the 4,337 fans home happy for a fourth straight game.Dorn coming through in the clutch was certainly no surprise to the Miners - he's done it time and time again. But the players who let Southern Illinois get to extra innings certainly weren't the usual suspects.Starting pitcher Jon Qualls, activated off the retired list earlier in the day, was brilliant. A submarine-style, off-speed throwing pitcher who throws his fastball no harder than 80 miles per hour, Qualls kept the Sliders off-balance all night long. His curveball, which was measured several times on the Rent One radar gun at 60 mph and slower, consistently fooled and frustrated Slippery Rock.Qualls threw eight innings - the longest start by any Miners pitcher - allowing just one unearned run and four hits. He struck out two batters and did not allow a walk."He was absolutely tremendous," said Pinto, who added that the stadium's radar gun shows pitches several mph slower than they actually are. "He was every bit of what I was told he was."Brian Wilburn relieved Qualls to start the ninth inning and threw 12/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Travis Hope got the final out of the 10th to pick up his second win.But it was a new outfielder that gave the Miners their biggest boost. Sliders starter Zac Cline had shut down Southern Illinois for six innings, and Slippery Rock entered the seventh with a 1-0 lead. Leading off the seventh, left fielder Willie Keene, who was signed by Southern Illinois Sunday, worked the count to 2-2 before fouling off eight consecutive pitches.After taking a ball to make the count full, Keene fouled off one more pitch before lining a triple into the left-center field gap for his first professional hit. Keene scored two batters later on a double play from Scanzano, tying the game."That's one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life," Keene said of his triple. "I was just trying to do whatever I could to get something started, get on base anyway I could."With the win, the Miners (13-13) are at .500 for the first time since the season began. Considering they began the season 3-9, getting back to even so quickly is something the first-year franchise certainly believes it can build on.Especially if Dorn and the Miners keep finding new ways to win extra-inning games."We're just going to never quit," Wirth said. "That's what this team does - never give up. If we continue to do that, we're going to be successful."
With the score tied and the winning run 90 feet away, Dorn leaned his left arm into a fastball from Slippery Rock's Matt Keller. The hit by pitch forced Miners shortstop Mike Scanzano home, giving Southern Illinois a 2-1 win, and a series sweep, over the Sliders at Rent One Park."That's Tim's role, to end games like that," Miners catcher Rob Wirth said. "That's why he's here, for situations like that, when runners are in scoring position. That's his job, and he does a darn good job of it."Sliders reliever Jon Tapper hit Scanzano to start the 10th. After second baseman Ralph Santana sacrificed Scanzano to second base, pinch hitter Jose Torres was walked and Wirth hit a single into left field, loading the bases and forcing Tapper out of the game.Keller's first pitch to the 6-foot-8 Dorn was high and inside, but Dorn leaned away from it."One of his teammates was yelling, 'You've got to wear that!'," Miners manager Mike Pinto said.Apparently, Dorn heard the advice. The second pitch was thrown to nearly the exact same spot, and this time, Dorn took one for the team, picking up his 28th RBI in an unconventional way and sending the 4,337 fans home happy for a fourth straight game.Dorn coming through in the clutch was certainly no surprise to the Miners - he's done it time and time again. But the players who let Southern Illinois get to extra innings certainly weren't the usual suspects.Starting pitcher Jon Qualls, activated off the retired list earlier in the day, was brilliant. A submarine-style, off-speed throwing pitcher who throws his fastball no harder than 80 miles per hour, Qualls kept the Sliders off-balance all night long. His curveball, which was measured several times on the Rent One radar gun at 60 mph and slower, consistently fooled and frustrated Slippery Rock.Qualls threw eight innings - the longest start by any Miners pitcher - allowing just one unearned run and four hits. He struck out two batters and did not allow a walk."He was absolutely tremendous," said Pinto, who added that the stadium's radar gun shows pitches several mph slower than they actually are. "He was every bit of what I was told he was."Brian Wilburn relieved Qualls to start the ninth inning and threw 12/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Travis Hope got the final out of the 10th to pick up his second win.But it was a new outfielder that gave the Miners their biggest boost. Sliders starter Zac Cline had shut down Southern Illinois for six innings, and Slippery Rock entered the seventh with a 1-0 lead. Leading off the seventh, left fielder Willie Keene, who was signed by Southern Illinois Sunday, worked the count to 2-2 before fouling off eight consecutive pitches.After taking a ball to make the count full, Keene fouled off one more pitch before lining a triple into the left-center field gap for his first professional hit. Keene scored two batters later on a double play from Scanzano, tying the game."That's one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life," Keene said of his triple. "I was just trying to do whatever I could to get something started, get on base anyway I could."With the win, the Miners (13-13) are at .500 for the first time since the season began. Considering they began the season 3-9, getting back to even so quickly is something the first-year franchise certainly believes it can build on.Especially if Dorn and the Miners keep finding new ways to win extra-inning games."We're just going to never quit," Wirth said. "That's what this team does - never give up. If we continue to do that, we're going to be successful."
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