David Harden threw eight shutout innings and the Southern Illinois Miners (25-12) hit two home runs as the Joliet Slammers (19-18) lost 5-0 Thursday night.
Matt Fields, who was in the Slammers’ spring training camp before being traded to Southern Illinois, made his ex-team pay in the first. With one away Josh Womack doubled and Fields followed with a two run home run to give the Miners the 2-0 lead.
Slammers starter Billy Petrick (2-6) went five innings, giving up five hits and three runs, all earned, in the defeat. He walked two and struck out five.
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Fields tacked on a RBI grounder in the fifth to extend the Miners lead to 3-0.
Meanwhile, the Slammers had no answers for Harden. Bobby Leeper had two hits but that was the extent of the offensive highlights for Joliet. Harden struck out six and only walked one in his eight innings of work.
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Southern Illinois scored its final two runs in the eighth against reliever Jeremy Tietze when catcher Sean Coughlin hit a two-run homer.
The Slammers will look to win the series Friday night as they’ll send Brian Fowler (1-1, 0.77 ERA) to the mound.
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