Big 3rd Inning Lifts Otters over CornBelters
May 17, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
Normal, Ill. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, gave up a big third inning and lost 10-7 to the Evansville Otters on Saturday night at the Corn Crib.
The Otters began the scoring with a pair of runs in the second inning on a solo line drive home run to right field by Jeremy Nowak and a two-out RBI single by Cory Urquhart.
The CornBelters evened the game in the bottom of the second when Richard Lucas doubled and Aaron Dudley singled to open the frame, and Tyler Shover walked with two outs to load the bases to set the stage for a two-run single to left by Josh Band.
Evansville gained a 8-2 lead with six runs in the third inning on a two-run double to right center by Chris Elder and a two-run triple to nearly the same spot by Josh Allen, with Allen driven in by a double from John Schultz which chased Normal starter Michael Schweiss from the game for reliever Cole Brocker. Urquhart drove in the inning's sixth run and his second of the night with a single to right to score Schultz.
Normal got two runs back in their third inning after two were out when Dudley singled and came home on a triple to the left field corner by Roman Hernandez, followed by a passed ball to plate Hernandez and cut the Otters' lead to 8-4.
The Belters cut the deficit to 8-6 with two unearned runs in the fourth when Mark Micowski reached via error and scored on a two-run homer to left by Lucas. Another unearned run in the sixth inning when Band led off with a walk and scored on an error cut the margin to 8-7. The Belters put the lead-off men in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings but could not score.
The Otters extended the lead to 10-7 in the ninth inning with a pair of insurance runs as Nik Balog led off with a double and scored on a fielder's choice on a ground ball by Jeremy Nowak. Nowak came home on a pair of singles with Allen picking up the RBI. The Belters again threatened in the ninth by loading the bases but came up empty.
Schweiss took the loss while the win went to Robert Ramer in relief. Orlando Santos picked up the save.
The CornBelters conclude the series in the rubber game with the Otters in a 6 p.m. Sunday contest at the Corn Crib on Heartland Bank and Trust Family Fun Sunday featuring $1 hot dogs and a post-game autograph session on the field.
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