Southern Illinois renews chase for second championship May 27, home opener June 1
Marion, IL (February 17, 2021) – The Southern Illinois Miners have announced their schedule for the 2021 Frontier League season. The 96-game slate will feature 48 home games at Rent One Park, and will begin on the road on Thursday, May 27 against the Lake Erie Crushers. The season is scheduled to last through September 12.
“After being closed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Miners are very excited to open the gates at Rent One Park again this summer,” Miners manager and COO Mike Pinto said. “We are making all the necessary preparations to welcome our fans and friends back to our beautiful stadium, and we cannot wait until Opening Day.”
The Miners will play their first five games of the season away from home, with a two-game trip to Lake Erie followed by a three-day, Memorial Day weekend set at Florence. The team then returns home to kick off their Rent One Park schedule on Tuesday, June 1 with a six-game home stand against the Windy City ThunderBolts (June 1-3) and Crushers (June 4-6).
With the Frontier League expanding to 16 teams for the 2021 campaign, the league will be split into two “conferences” (the Midwestern and Can-Am Conferences, respectively), and each conference will be separated into two divisions. The Miners are placed in the West Division of the Midwestern Conference alongside the Gateway Grizzlies, Evansville Otters, and Florence Y’Alls. Southern Illinois will face off against their division rivals extensively, with 19 total games against Gateway, 18 against Evansville, and 12 against Florence.
Almost all of their remaining games will be against members of the Central Division of the Midwest Conference, which includes the Schaumburg Boomers, Joliet Slammers, Windy City, and Lake Erie. Southern Illinois will play 12 games against the Boomers, Slammers, and ThunderBolts, while taking on the Crushers eight times.
There is also a lone series against a team from the Can-Am Conference, which will take place at Rent One Park from Friday, June 11 to Sunday, June 13, when the Miners welcome the Quebec Capitales to Marion.
Other schedule highlights include a a six-game stint at home immediately following the 4th of July, a nine-game home stand from July 20-29, and nine of the final 13 games of the regular season at home down the stretch in September. With nearly 40 percent (19 of 48) of their road games at Evansville or Gateway this season, Miners fans will also have even more opportunities to see their team play in-person without having to travel extensively from the Southern Illinois region.
All games and times are subject to change.