Avon, Ohio: The Sussex County Miners defeat the Lake Erie Crushers 6-0 behind a complete game shut-out from Rob Hensey, a win that takes them to just one game under .500 on the season.
The Miners got to work in the first inning, as after a Hunter D’Amato ground ball single to the pitcher and an eight pitch walk by Gabriel Maciel, Edwin Mateo pulled through with a two run RBI fly ball single to left field, giving the Miners an early 2-0 cushion. Little did the Miners and Crushers know that those two runs would put the game beyond reach early on.
Rob Hensey, coming off an elite pitching performance against the red-hot New York Boulders with only one allowed hit in 7 innings, would produce another pitching gem. Hensey would complete the game with two hits and five strikeouts. It’s the second year in a row a Miners pitcher would accomplish this feat with Mike Reagan going the distance in a 12-0 win against the Ottawa Titans in June of last season.
While Hensey continued to slam the door on the Crushers’ bats, the Miners continued to pile on insurance. Sandro Gaston homered to left field in the top of the 4th to make it 3-0 Miners. Evan Berkey coming home after a wild pitch by Gauge Lockhart and Will Zimmerman’s sac fly would add two more in the 6th. Finally, Edwin Mateo would collect his third RBI of the ball game with a grand slam that became a sac fly, thanks to Sebastian Alexander’s robbery, it would drive Haiden Walters home and lead the Miners to a 6-0 victory.
It was a game that the Miners couldn’t have pictured any better. An elite starting pitching performance resulted in a complete game shutout by Rob Hensey and the Miners finding a way to earn runs via the scrappy sac-fly, a task they have struggled with the majority of the season so far.
The Miners improve to 23-24 on the year and are now just one victory away from getting back to .500 on the season with a month and a half still yet to play. They will look to take the second game of the series, with an early 11:45 scheduled first pitch time. Fans can watch live on the Frontier League Network via HTN or listen on Mixlr. Streaming links are available at scminers.com.
Written by Justin Haight
Hensey Throws A Shutout, Miners Stomp Crushers
