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Bird throws another gem, Miners shutout ThunderBolts

By D.W. Norris, For The Southern

Saturday, July 19, 2008 11:12 PM CDT

CRESTWOOD - Ryan Bird and Brandon Jones came to an understanding Saturday at Standard Bank Stadium.

Bird just does not do enough to get Jones ground balls, the Miners' all-star third baseman joked. Bird thought about it as the two met behind the mound before the start of Southern Illinois' 5-0 win over Windy City and gave Jones his reply.

"I told him, 'Well, you're not getting one tonight,'" Bird said.

Well, not quite.

Jones stayed busy throughout Bird's eight shutout innings. He started a second-inning double play after Bird walked the leadoff man. Jones then backhanded a hard grounder and fielded a high-chopper for a pair of putouts in the third. Jones also gloved a stinging line drive that was a sure double in the fifth.

Bird faced one over the minimum through 5 1/3 no-hit innings. Chris Klepp broke up Bird's no-hit bid with a sixth inning single. Phil Hawke singled in the singled in the seventh. Bird finished with a ho-hum nine strikeouts and allowed only two hits in eight innings.

"I've got to give it up to my defense," Bird said. "They got me to the eighth inning. There was no way I was going to get that far without them."

But Bird did get to the eight inning in a blueprint day at the ballpark for the "aw shucks" right-hander.

"I'd hate to say it, but it was typical Ryan Bird," manager Mike Pinto said. "He's just really efficient. He was throwing everything for strikes, keeping the ball down. Everything you ask a pitcher to do, he's done repeatedly for us."

And Bird has repeatedly won games. He improved to 8-3 on the season and pushed his league-leading strikeout total to 87.

Saturday's win coupled with Gateway's 2-1 loss to Evansville gave Southern Illinois sole possession of first place in the Frontier League's West Division. Armando Carrasco pitched a scoreless ninth inning to cap off the shutout.

The Miners have won three straight and boast a 29-24 record, the second time the franchise has been five games over .500 in its existence. And for the 17th time this season, the Miners won a game when scoring first.

As good as Bird and the defense was, Southern Illinois' offense was just as effective in limited opportunities.

Kevin Koski reached base as the leadoff hitter in the first and third innings. He scored both times.

Koski's first run came after his first-inning infield single, Tony Roth's sacrifice bunt and Joey Metropoulos' double. He scored again in the third for a 2-0 Miners' lead after his double, another Roth sacrifice bunt and Brad Miller's sacrifice fly to center field.

Windy City starting pitcher Amos Ramon pitched a dandy game, allowing two earned runs on five hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked none, but watched his record drop to 3-3.

"He pitched a great game," said Windy City manager Mike Kashirsky. "Our goal with Southern Illinois' lineup is to keep them under five or six runs to give us a shot."

Ramon did his job, but the ThunderBolts' defense came up short for the second game in a row. A three-run ninth inning that featured a throwing error, "took the wind out of our sails," Kashirsky said.

"We had our four, five and six hitters coming up and really wanted to push a run across," said Jones of the ninth inning.

Metropoulos led off the frame with a single. Tim Dorn followed with a base-on-balls. Jones stepped to the plate ready to lay down a bunt with no outs.

"The worst thing that could happen is, (Jones) gets out and we've got runners on second and third," Pinto said. "They went ahead and tried to throw behind the runner at second base and the next thing you know, everything opened up."

Jones singled home pinch runner Bradley Goldsmith for a 3-0 lead. Mike Scanzano's opposite field single to right scored Dorn from third. Jones went first-to-third on Scanzano's grounder.

"The guys really did a good job of executing," Pinto said.

Jones was able to cruise home on Brendan Akashian's sacrifice fly to left field for the fifth and final run of the game.

And Jones, at least for one day, got those groundballs about which he jokingly hounds Bird.

Southern Illinois and Windy City (26-26) wrap up their three-game series at 6:05 p.m. today.

dw_norris@yahoo.com