The Southern Illinois Miners made a valiant comeback to send their first postseason game in franchise history into extra innings, but in the end, Windy City's Phil Hawke proved why he was named the Frontier League's most valuable player by driving in the winning run in the 10th inning of the ThunderBolts' 9-8 win at Standard Bank Stadium on Friday.

The Miners will try to even the divisional series when the teams meet again Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. in this Chicago suburb.

Southern Illinois scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning against Windy City closer Matt Petty -- who was already 0-2 against the Miners this season -- to knot the game at 8-8.

Tim Dorn led off with a single to right field and moved to second on a wild pitch during an at-bat by Brandon Jones. After Brendan Akashian drew a walk, pinch-hitter Randy Rosa was hit by the only pitch he saw and then lifted for pinch-runner Eric Suttle.

Manny Paula's ground ball to Windy City shortstop Wes Long was misplayed into the seventh ThunderBolts error of the night -- Long, voted as the league's top shortstop earlier in the week, committed five of them -- to score Dorn and keep the bases loaded.

Mike Victor was brought in to pinch-hit for Mike Scanzano and struck out to bring up Andre Miller, who ripped a two-run single to score Akashian and Suttle and tie the game.

Tony Roth, who played the entire game after being activated from the injured list earlier in the day, worked a walk to chase Petty for reliever Brandon Garner and keep the rally alive for Joey Metropoulos, who flied out to deep left-center field for the third out.

Miners reliever Mike Phelps avoided damage in the bottom of the ninth by striking out Danny Sawyer after issuing a pair of two-out walks, but couldn't avoid trouble in the 10th after Victor booted an easy groundball hit by Gilberto Mejia. Mike Sullivan was out on a bang-bang play at first base while bunting Mejia to second base, then after the Miners' coaching staff elected to walk Mike Coles intentionally to get to Hawke, the league's MVP drilled a fastball into the gap in deep left-center field to give the ThunderBolts the series advantage.

"We played our butts off the whole game as a team and I take full responsibility," Phelps said. "This was one of the best games we've played all year and I leave a pitch up and Hawke hit it."

Miners manager Mike Pinto used the same strategy of walking Coles to face Hawke in the first inning -- Pinto was later ejected from the game -- and felt it was successful when Hawke was retired on a groundout that produced a run.

Pinto said the decision was based on the fact that Coles has a better batting average with runners in scoring position than Hawke.

"We weren't going to let Coles beat us in that situation," Pinto said. "This series will come down to our ability to get out Hawke, Mejia and Coles. If we can get those three out, then we have a good chance of winning this series."

Southern Illinois had a chance in the top of the 10th when Jones singled after Dorn struck out, but Jones was thrown out at second base on a hit-and-run with Akashian batting. Akashian was also fanned for the third out.

"We had chances to win late in the game and didn't take advantage of it," Pinto said. "But I'll say this, they never quit. They kept on playing. We just didn't take advantage of opportunities when they were presented."

The Miners struck against Windy City ace Ross Stout early as the game's first batter, Miller, hit the ball up the middle and reached safely as the throw pulled first baseman Hawke off the bag. Hawke then slid to snare Roth's bunt attempt, but Metropoulos came through with a double to score Miller and give the Miners a quick 1-0 lead.

But Windy City tied it in the bottom half against righthander Ryan Bird, the Frontier League's pitcher of the year, as Mejia led off with a single to right field and later scored on a groundout by Hawke. Mejia was picked off while on first base but eluded the rundown, was then bunted to second and reached third on a double steal along with Mike Coles, who was intentionally walked.

Windy City tacked on two runs in the second inning. Justin Tellam singled to left and scored when Scott Billak's base hit to right field was played awkwardly by outfielder Kevin House, whose throw home was high as Tellam scored. Danny Sawyer advanced Billak to third with a groundout and Mejia plated the baserunner with a push bunt past the pitcher's mound.

The Miners got a run back in the fourth after Metropoulos drew a leadoff walk. Jones also walked after Dorn's flyout, then Akashian flied out to left field to bring up Kevin House, who grounded toward shortstop Wes Long, who had no play but tried to catch Metropoulos at third base -- except that teammate Josh Horn wasn't ready and the ball went into the dugout, allowing Metropoulos to trot home.

The ThunderBolts increased their lead to 6-2 in the fifth. Michael Sullivan beat out an infield single and then scored as Coles won a long at-bat against Bird with a double off the wall in deep left-center field. Hawke was then intentionally walked and two batters later Tellam hit a line drive off Bird's back leg and into left field that scored two runs.

Bird was lifted after throwing 113 pitches in five innings with seven strikeouts and six runs scored against him.

"Everybody has days when they're not at their best," Pinto said. "Unfortunately this just happened to be the first game of the playoffs."

The Miners got within a run in a wild seventh inning that begin with Paula getting called out on what appeared to be an outside fastball. Home plate umpire Dan O'Connell stared into the Miners dugout before ejecting Pinto and then turning to walk away as Pinto came out to give O'Connell an earful.

After order was restored, and Scanzano grounded out for the second out, Miller reached as shortstop Long booted a grounder. Roth then drew a walk and Metropoulos ripped a single to left to plate Miller. Dorn scorched a single into the right field gap to score Roth and chase Stout from the game in favor of reliever Brian McCullough.

Long committed yet another error as his throw to second base pulled Mejia off the bag on a grounder by Jones, sending Metropoulos home to make it 6-5. Akashian's bouncer to first base took a bad hop on Hawke for the ThunderBolts' sixth error of the game and loaded the bases, but House struck out to leave three runners stranded.

Billak's two-run single against McMurran in the bottom half of the seventh increased Windy City's lead to 8-5.

The Miners loaded the bases in the eighth after Roth beat an out infield hit, but Metropoulos hit into a 4-6-3 double play to strand the Miners' ninth and 10th baserunners of the game.

COAL BITS: Gateway defeated Kalamazoo, 6-1, on the road in the other divisional series' first game. ... Roth played for the first time since Aug. 12. He was activated Friday from the injured list, while outfielder Kevin Koski was placed on injured reserve. ... Hawke sang a rousing rendition of the national anthem before the game.