Carbondale Reporter

By so many standards, it was another great season for the Southern Illinois Miners.

The franchise set a Frontier League record with its 10th straight winning season and third-straight 60-win season, and tied another record with its third-consecutive division title. Yet in the playoffs, the team's dominant closer blew a three-run lead in one game, and the squad was unable to cash in on multiple chances with runners at third in the elimination game to end the season earlier than hoped.

“That's just baseball. Frustrating for sure,” Miners manager Mike Pinto told the Southwest Illinois News. “At the same time, we have done some things no team in this league have ever done, and we need to keep that perspective.”

With a regular-season record of 63-33, the Miners had the best record in independent baseball this season, Pinto said. They won the West Division by seven-and-a-half games.

Befitting a team with a strong record, Southern Illinois also topped many Frontier League statistical categories. The league's statistics site reported the Miners led the league in runs with 523, RBIs with 478 and walks with 405; and was second in on-base percentage at .360 and on-base plus slugging percentage at .766.

On the mound, Southern Illinois was tied for most saves with 28, second in shutouts with eight and fourth in earned-run average at 3.93

Individually, several Southern Illinois hitters were well-acquainted with the top 10.

Shane Kennedy led the league with a .363 batting average and .465 on-base percentage, was third in hits with 111, fifth in runs with 68, eighth in doubles with 24, second in steals with 34 and 10th in slugging percentage at .513

Aaron Gates led the league in runs with 78 and was tied for seventh in triples with four.

Steve Marino was second in RBIs with 79, fifth with 16 home runs, tied for sixth in hits with 107 and 10th in doubles with 23.

Craig Massey tied for second in triples with seven and was eighth in OBP at .399. Alex De Leon was fifth in RBIs with 72, and Nolan Earley was sixth in RBIs with 70

Pitcher Jarrett Miller, who finished with an 8-4 record, tied for sixth in wins, was second in innings pitched with 127, fifth in ERA at 3.05 and tied for 10th in strikeouts with 93. Fellow starting pitcher also Rick Teasley was 8-4.

Adam Lopez was huge out of the bullpen for the Miners, going 3-0 with 13 saves — sixth-best in the league — a 0.71 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 25 and one-third  innings.

In addition to their excellence on the field, Pinto cited the players for being good in the community.

 As for the offseason, Pinto said it is too early to know who will be back and who won't.

“I told players to go home and rest their minds and bodies and when they got away from the game a little to give me a call and we can talk about their interest in playing and our interest in having particular players a part of our 2017 plans,” he said.

Pinto said that with the league's model including an age limit, some players will be lost to age. With the team's struggle with the bats in the playoffs — the Miners averaged just three runs a game in their four-game loss to River City — Pinto said there will be an emphasis on situational hitting.

Yet the organization will continue with how it builds its team since it's a proven model.

“In our 10 seasons, we have played 960 regular season games and have only been out of playoff contention in eight of those," Pinto said. "A tremendous accomplishment that we will aim to continue."