CornBelters Fall in Homestand Opener to Rascals
Published on August 13, 2017 under Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
NORMAL, Ill. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, dropped the opener of a homestand to the River City Rascals 6-4 on Friday night at the Corn Crib.
The CornBelters opened the scoring in the second inning when Nolan Meadows led off with a flare single to center, went to third on a double by Justin Fletcher and scored on a fielder's choice by Diego Cedeno.
The Rascals wasted little time knotting the score as Clint Freeman hit a long home run nearly to the right field sidewalk with one out in the third inning.
River City took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning with four hits including RBI singles by Johnny Morales and Josh Ludy. Paul Kronenfeld smacked a two-run homer to the second row of corn planters in right field in the sixth inning to extend the Rascals advantage to 5-1.
The Belters sliced into the deficit by one when Jesus Solorzano drove in Santiago Chirino, who led off with a double, with a fielder's choice in the sixth inning.
River City countered with an RBI double that one-hopped the center field fence by Ludy in the seventh for a 6-2 lead for the guests.
Normal tallied in the seventh inning as Miguel Torres led off with a double inside the left field line and scored on a seeing-eye single up the middle by Diego Cedeno, then Yeixon Ruiz doubled to the left field corner to plate Cedeno to cut the deficit to 6-4.
Hector Hernandez (7-7) worked six and one-third innings for the win, giving up four earned runs on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Cody Mincey pitched the ninth inning for his ninth save. Edgar De La Rosa (2-5) worked six innings and took the loss, giving up five earned runs on 10 hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
The series continues on State Farm Saturday at 6:35 p.m. as the Rascals give the ball to Zeb Sneed (4-0, 3.28 ERA) while the Belters start the current Frontier League Pitcher of the Week Charlie Gillies (5-7, 4.14) in a match-up of right-handers. The game can be heard live on WJBC.com at 6:20 with listen links on Facebook, Twitter (@Normal_Baseball) and www.normalbaseball.com.
State Farm Saturday features half-price tickets for State Farm agents, employees, policy holders, family and friends, and is also "Win the Boss's Money" Night as fans can win cash by answering trivia questions.
Stay social with the CornBelters at http://twitter.com/normal_baseball, http://www.facebook.com/CornBelters and http://www.youtube.com/normalcornbelters .
Frontier League Stories from August 13, 2017
- CornBelters Fall in Homestand Opener to Rascals - Normal CornBelters
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