After a rough first couple of innings, Madisonville pitching settled in as the Miners knocked off the Hoptown Hoppers 8-2 Tuesday evening in Madisonville. Despite the Hoppers rapping out 10 hits, the Miners were able to limit Hoptown to just the two runs and none after the second inning.
Hoptown got on the board in the top of the first inning. Carter Hood’s RBI single was the third hit of the opening inning and put the Hoppers up 1-0.
Reid Douglas opened the top of the second for Hoptown with a double. Douglas later scored on a sac fly to give Hoptown a 2-0 lead. To that point, the Hoppers had scored their two runs on five hits and it looked like it might be a high scoring night for Hoptown. But, the Miners settled in and it turned out to be the last inning in which the Hoppers would score.
Miner starter Reid Gongwer gave up no runs and four hits over the next four innings. Reliever Jace Parnin came in and closed out the final three innings by giving up just one hit, striking out six and walking one.
Meanwhile, the Madisonville offense found its rhythm. The Miners scored two in the bottom of the second to even the score. Both runs scored on a two-out single from Ben Comes. The Miners used five singles out of six at-bats in the bottom of the fourth to add three more runs and take a 5-2 lead.
Will Vance’s three-run shot to center in the bottom of the fifth ran the lead on out to 8-2.
For the Hoppers, Robert Estrada was 3-5 with a run scored. Luis Vergara finished the night 2-5 with a double.
Starting pitcher Francisco Paradis was tagged with the loss for the Hoppers. He went four innings, giving up five runs on seven hits, striking out six and walking one.
