Despite a big offensive night, the Madisonville Miners continue to try and find their footing in the middle of the Ohio Valley League season. The Fulton Railroaders hung 20 runs on the board but had to survive the Miners scoring 12 runs over the final thre innings to take a 20-16 win Friday night at Elmer Kelley Stadium.
The loss was the third straight for the Miners.
The game was scoreless until the top of the third inning. Three walks and a dropped third strike opened the door for Fulton to score four runs and take a 4-0 lead.
The Miners came back in the bottom half of the inning to cut into the lead. Pete Britton, from Oakland City University, led off the inning with a single. Two outs later, he scored when Nazhir Bergen, out of Genesee Community College, took one over the fence in right to make it a 4-2 ballgame.
The wheels came off the wagon for Madisonville in the top of the fourth. Fulton used three singles, two doubles, two walks, and a hit batter to push across seven runs and extend the lead out to 11-2.
The Railroaders then added to the margin in the top of the fifth, scoring four more runs to move the lead out to 15-2.
Madisonville started trying to chip away at the big lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs on a double from Justin Early that trimmed the lead down to 15-4.
As they did earlier in the game, the Railroaders again responded to the Miners putting runs on the road with runs of their own. Fulton scored three times in the top of the seventh to send it to 18-4. Caleb Warren, of Westminster College, had the big blow of the inning with an RBI double.
The Miners made a big charge to keep the game going in the bottom of the seventh. Madisonville loaded the bases with one out. Justin Early then singled to cut the lead to 18-5. Dylan Toler followed that up with a base-clearing triple that brought the Miners to within 18-8 with still just one out.
The Miners kept the game going past the seventh when Sean O’Brien singled to drive in Toler and make it an 18-9 game. And the good news for Madisonville fans is that the Miners weren’t done yet. An RBI single from Cooper Wright and a dropped 3rd strike by Fulton made it 18-11.
Fulton got a fly out to finally end the inning, holding the seven-run lead.
While the Miners did more than enough offensively to win the game, the problem was that they could not find a way to stop the Railroaders. After the big Madisonille rally, Fulton was right back at it. A hit batter, a stolen base, and a single made it 19-11 in the top of the 8th.
It could have been much worse for the Miners as the inning ended with the bases loaded for Fulton. The Railroaders then came back with another run in the top of the 9th to make it 20-11 heading into the final half-inning. But as it had been all night, the Miners were not going down without a fight.
Clifford Wysinger II, of Auburn-Montgomery, got things started with a one-out RBI single. After a two-out walk loaded the bases, Justin Early capped off his big night with a grand slam to center that made it 20-16. But that would be as close as Madisonville could get as the Railroaders survived to take the 4-run win.
Justin Early led the Miners with a monster night at the plate, going 3-6 with a grand slam, a double, 7 RBIs, and two runs scored. Pete Britton was 4-5 with three runs scored.
In addition to the 36 runs, the two teams combined for 33 hits in the game.
