MARION - Joey Metropoulos bashed a pair of home runs and Andrew Sweet delivered the game-winning hit Friday as Southern Illinois held off Evansville 6-5 in front of 6,122 fans at Rent One Park.

Brad Miller reached base on a two-out error in the first inning, and Jereme Milons walked on four pitches to bring Metropoulos to the plate. The slugger promptly crushed the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for a 3-0 lead.

"He walked (Milons) on four pitches so I figured he was going to try to get ahead and throw a strike," Metropoulos said of his first bomb off of pitcher Rashad Ford. "It's always good going up three runs in the first inning."

The Miners had a chance to blow the game wide open in the second inning but could only manage one run. Tony Roth walked with the bases loaded to make it a 4-0 ball game, but Ford retired the next three batters all on pop outs.

Southern Illinois starting pitcher Brett Scarpetta pitched 6 2/3 innings of solid baseball but didn't factor in the decision.

Metropoulos belted his second long ball of the game in the seventh to give the Miners a 5-2 advantage, but they couldn't hold the lead.

The Otters scored three times in the eighth, and the tying run came across on a passed ball.

But the Miners played small ball to perfection in the bottom of the eighth. Chris Crescenzi was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Travon Jackson.

Andrew Sweet came off the bench to pinch-hit and lifted the game-winning hit into right field.

"You've got to give credit to Joey Metropoulos who swung the bat like crazy," said Miners manager Mike Pinto. "Those two balls he hit were absolute missiles."

Chris Wiman recorded the final two outs in the eighth and threw a perfect ninth inning to pick up the victory.

Metropoulos finished with three hits and four RBIs in the contest.

Southern Illinois outfielder Kevin Koski sprained his ankle running past first base in the sixth inning. His status for the near future is unknown at this point.

The Miners improved to 24-16 with the victory and moved to within two and a half games of River City for first place in the Frontier League's West Division.

Southern Illinois continues its series with Evansville at 7:05 p.m. today

scott.mees@thesouthern.com

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