CRESTWOOD - Score early. Score late. Score a win for the Southern Illinois Miners.

Mike Scanzano followed Kevin Koski's run-scoring single with a one-out suicide squeeze in the top of the ninth inning that gave Southern Illinois an 8-6 win over Windy City on Friday at Standard Bank Stadium. Griffin Bailey improved his record to 4-2 with two scoreless innings of relief.

Southern Illinois (28-24) stayed in a first-place tie with Gateway and dropped Windy City (26-25) to 1 1/2 games back with the win.

Koski reached base three times on a walk, a rally-starting error in the sixth and his ninth-inning single. Scanzano had two sacrifice bunts and a single. Scanzano and Koski each scored once.

The Miners plated their first six runs with two outs through the first six innings. Brandon Jones drove in a pair of runs on a single and a double. Tim Dorn had three hits and an RBI in five at-bats. Windy City reliever Jason Lowey gave up three straight one-out walks before giving way to the bullpen as his record fell to 1-1.

The Miners trailed 5-3 in the sixth inning before taking a one-run lead off three Windy City errors. The ThunderBolts tied the game with a run off reliever Jake McMurran in the seventh inning.

Southern Illinois opened the game with a short-lived lead. Run-scoring singles from Dorn and Jones plated Brad Miller and Joey Metropoulos for a 2-0 advantage. Two batters into the home half of the first, Windy City tied things on back-to-back home runs from Scott Billak and Mike Coles.

Billak's one-out solo shot in the third gave the ThunderBolts a 3-2 lead. Phillip Hawke drove in another run with a double. Brett Amyx's single pushed Windy City ahead 5-2. Starting pitcher Brett Scapetta faced one more batter, gave up a walk, and was pulled from the game.

Scarpetta lasted 2 2/3 innings and allowed five earned runs on six hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts in his shortest start of the season. Josh Neal took over and held the ThunderBolts scoreless for 1 2/3 innings.

The Miners chipped in the fifth off Windy City starter Ross Stout on Jones' second RBI of the night. McMurran bailed Neal out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the home half of the fifth. McMurran tossed 2 2/3 innings and kept the Miners in position for their late-innings heroics.

Koski reached base on a two-out fielding error in the three-run sixth. Stout plunked Scanzano and walked Miller to load the bases. A throwing error on Joey Metropoulos' slow roller to third base scored Koski and cut Windy City's lead to 5-4. A two-run throwing error to third base from catcher Danny Sawyer plated Miller and Scanzano for a 6-5 lead.

The Miners and ThunderBolts play at 7:05 p.m. today.

dw_norris@yahoo.com