Marion, IL – Chris Clem ran into a firestorm in the fourth inning as the Southern Illinois Miners scored seven runs to put the game in hand, defeating the River City Rascals 13-2 Saturday night.

The Rascals had a chance to jump on Miners’ starter Chris Allen, who was making his professional debut out of Florida International, in the first. With the bases loaded, the Rascals struck out twice and popped up in the infield to end the threat.

Southern Illinois carried the momentum with them into the bottom half of the frame when with two outs Joey Metropoulos and Brandon Jones drove in runs to make it 2-0.

Tim Dorn scored an unearned run in the third as River City committed their first of three errors. Again it was Metropoulos driving in the run with a double.

In the fourth, the Miners used eight hits, three of which were infield singles, for seven runs, chasing Clem and plating two more off reliever Gary Lee for a 10-0 lead.

Allen’s (1-0) night was done after six as he did not allow a run on six hits and three strikeouts. The Rascals scored both of their runs in the seventh off Jake McMurran when Greg Stone hit a sacrifice fly and Luke Barganier tripled in Will Basom.

Barganier extended hit hitting streak to 17 games with a three hit night. The streak ties the Frontier League high for the season with Chad Rothford now of Gateway.

The Miners scored their last three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning against left-hander Mike Castrignano. Clem (3-5) went 3.1 innings, allowing nine runs, eight earned on nine hits and three walks in the loss.

River City (21-23) dropped to 1-4 against the Miners (24-20) this season in the loss and to three games out of first in Frontier League West. The two wrap up the series Sunday night at 7:05 p.m. from Marion, Illinois.