Massive rainfall wasn't enough to dampen the community spirit on display at Benton-West City Community Day on Saturday.
Rent One Park was host to a number of Benton and West City citizens on hand to watch the Southern Illinois Miners hold on to win a nail biter of a victory over the Lake Erie Crushers to improve their overall record to 10-9 and brought the series to a 1-1 tie.
West City Mayor Ron House and Benton-West City Chamber of Commerce President Rhonda Gilbreath each had a turn throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, and Benton crooner Ron Head delivered a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, filling the entire stadium with his deep baritone voice before the start of the game.
The Miners were very gracious hosts, as several players went out to sign autographs for the Benton and West City kids in attendance as they waited out the long rain-delay that pushed the game’s start time back an hour.
Once the game finally began, the Miners gave Benton and West City a game to remember, in what was said to be their best victory of the year. Left-handed rookie hurler Dan Ludwig (2-0) pitched a solid game to pick up the win, allowing only one run in the fourth as Jose Barraza went deep to score Lake Erie's only tally of the ballgame.
The Miners answered back in the next inning, as they scored all of their runs in the fifth. Aaron Gates started things off with a sharp single, and then came around to score on a line-drive triple by Craig Massey (3-for-4) that sailed down the right field line to bring the game even at 1-1. What turned out to be the game-winning run was driven in by rookie Johnny Cole, who grounded out to second base, which allowed Massey to come home from third. Ludwig finished the game with only four hits recorded against him. He pitched seven a third innings with no walks while fanning four batters to pick up his second win of the season. Relievers Evan Mott and Jake Cose had to work out of some stressful innings in the eighth and ninth to wrap things up. In the seventh, the Crushers' Brendan Costantino hit a one-out double that was enough for the Miner's manager to pull Ludwig. This brought in Mott, who watched as one batter reached on a throwing error after a dropped third strike. Then another reached on a walk to load the bases with still only one out. Mott persevered through the jam and got a pop-out and a huge full-count strikeout on Carlos Avila to end the inning and keep the Miners’ lead in-tact.
Cose picked up the save in the ninth, which was his second of the season, allowing one hit from Parks Jordan, and walking two more batters to once again load the bases in this tight one-run affair. Cose recorded all three outs in the inning on K's, with the first one to Barraza, then one to former big-leaguer Juan Avila, and the final game-winner to Daniel Aldrich.
Before the game, fans were treated to special "Dancing through the Decades" presentation courtesy of Dailyn Darr's Academy of Dance. The local children's dance group was dressed in outfits representing
different decades from the 1950s to the present, and they all came together to put on a fabulous show
behind home-plate.
The Benton Consolidated High School cheerleaders were integrated into the Miners’ dance team and
helped them toss out t-shirts and entertain the crowd throughout the game. During the early innings,
the girls played musical chairs with exercise balls for a prize. During the seventh inning stretch, the
Benton Town and Country Gardener's club also came out for a special ceremony.
Benton/West Community Day was sponsored by the Chamber, as well as several local businesses,
including Dunagan's Collision Center, Martin's Restaurant & Catering, Pheasant Hollow Winery, SCD Rea & Sons Insurance, Shawnee Professional Services, Tequilas of Benton Inc., US Bank & Wisper, ISP, and
the State Bank of Whittington. Proceeds from the game will be used for the Rend Lake Fourth of July
Fireworks celebration.
