CornBelters Earn First Sweep of the Season
June 8, 2018 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
O'FALLON, Mo - Starting pitching and the bats paved the way again as the (11-12) Normal CornBelters beat the (14-9) River City Rascals 9-5 on Thursday night to earn their first sweep of the season.
"It (sweep) feels great, just means our boys are playing right and we are taking the right strides. Anytime you can win a series on the road and sweep its great," said Billy Horn
Heading into the final game of the road trip, the Normal bats have stood out in the Frontier League, both as individuals and as a team. Starting with average and hits, Santiago Chirino had 33 hits and an average of .379 to lead the league. Derrick Loveless was in the second behind Chirino is both categories with a .373 average and 31 hits. He also has hit three triples for third. Tanner Lubach and Chris Irairt are the next CornBelter duo to place among the league leaders. The Belter backstop placed second on seven home runs and is tied for second with Iriart in RBIs (19). Lubach was also fourth with seven doubles. Iriart was right behind him for third with six dingers Finally, rounding out the average leaders was Justin Fletcher with .352 for third.
On the team leaders, similar to Chi-Chi leading in hits and average, the team is as well with 200 hits and a .275 average. Normal also was second in six different categories - Home runs (20), RBIs (98), Total Bases (308), Sac Fly (9), Slugging (.424), and OPS (.765).
Normal started the potential series sweep right away in the first. Fletcher drew a walk then a groundout moved him to second. After celebrating a bunch of firsts last night, Tony Holton got another one when he singled to center to pick up his first RBI as a Belter. Normal kept the trend of manufacturing runs with two outs. Loveless singled to put runners on the corner and continue his league-leading on-base streak of 23 games. Andrew Godbold brought in the second run of the game on a single to left for his 13th RBI of the season.
Leading the team with strikeouts, Matt Portland (2-1) was given the task to help Normal earn its first sweep of the season. The last time he faced River City was on August 13th last season where he went seven innings, struck out eight, and gave up four earned runs in the loss. The second lefty in the rotation dominated the Rascals. He went four straight innings without allowing a base runner and striking out four. Portland allowed his first base runner of the game in the fifth on a one-out walk. The division leaders got to the New York native in sixth with a two-out home run. The former Northwestern Wildcat went six innings limiting the opposition to two runs and two hits, while only walking one and fanning seven.
In the fourth, Iriart smacked his eighth bomb of the season to left field that nearly one bounced out of the stadium to put Normal up 3-0. It was his third home run in the series so far and the first baseman now has homered in three straight series beginning with Southern Illinois on May 30th.
The CornBelters got on the board next frame loading the bases with no outs for the heart of the order. Fletcher was hit by a pitch then Chirino reached on an error and Holton put ducks on the pound on a walk. One out later, Loveless reached on a fielder's choice that brought in Fletcher, an error by the River City baseman let Chi-Chi score for the fifth run. Normal took advantage of the Rascals defense again when Godbold knocked his second hit of the game to left that the left fielder misplayed to allow Loveless to score to increase the lead to 6-0.
The newly acquired Sam Vega got his first double and RBI of the season after lining one down the right-field line to bring in Iriart who the third Belter hit by a pitch to start the sixth. Chirino seeking the crown of the all-time hit king hit a line drive to center and bring in Vega for the eighth run of the game. Chi-Chi is now only 14 hits away from setting the hit record.
Nick Bozman came in the seventh and struck out one as the Rascals cut the lead in half 8-4 on a home run.
Vega saw another Belter first in the eighth after he tripled to right field. Fletcher broke his bat but put enough off the swing to bring him in on a sac fly to center.
Horn then turned to another for sure arm out of the pen, Mark Hendricks to finish the eighth. His outing didn't last long as he gave up three singles to load the bases and Anthony Herrera replaced him. In his 13th appearance, Herrera got two groundouts that limited the Rascals to one run. This was the second time that the righty came in with the bases loaded on the road trip and didn't allow any earned runs. Herrera finished the ninth with Chirino recording all three outs.
"He's (Herrera) got the perfect mentally for a relief pitcher, he wants the ball every single day and doesn't want days off. He has that killer instinct that you can't teach and that drive, the will to win, and I'm going to do everything at all cost and you can't teach that. He might not throw 97 miles an hour, but I tell you what, that kid's got guts and he pitches with a lot of heart. You wish every relief you pitcher you ever had has that mentality and instinct, but he has been a true blessing for us this year."
Normal earned their first sweep of the year and look to carry the momentum into tomorrow as they open up a home series against the Southern Illinois Miners, first pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
Frontier League Stories from June 8, 2018
- Otters Roll Past Rascals 6-4 for Third Straight Win - Evansville Otters
- Otters Sneak Past Rascals in Opener - River City Rascals
- Boomers Muscle Past Lake Erie - Schaumburg Boomers
- Crushers drop series opener - Lake Erie Crushers
- Pitching Shines as Beach Bums End Skid - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Wild Things Win Series Opener against Joliet 8-4 - Washington Wild Things
- ThunderBolts Drop Close Game in Traverse City - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Frontier League All-Star Game Switches to Rookies vs. Experienced Players Format - Normal CornBelters
- Joliet Avoids Sweep - Lake Erie Crushers
- Miners Come Back to Outlast Freedom in Extras - Southern Illinois Miners
- Freedom Drop Series in Extra Inning Thriller - Florence Y'alls
- CornBelters Earn First Sweep of the Season - Normal CornBelters
- Rascals Swept by CornBelters - River City Rascals
- Grizzlies Drop Series in Evansville - Gateway Grizzlies
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
