CornBelters Hold on to Take Series at Gateway
June 25, 2018 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
SAUGET, Ill. - After an emotional game for Santiago Chirino who set the all-time hit record last night, Chris Iriart decided to set his own as he homered in his fourth straight at-bat to set a new Frontier League record as the (16-20) Normal CornBelters held on to 10-8 victory over the (17-23) Gateway Grizzlies in the series finale.
"Our guys just came out and played baseball last couple days and played well the whole series. In the first game, their pitching kept us down and we kept them down and we just ran out of innings. Yesterday and today we really came out and swung the bats," said manager Billy Horn. "We won the series and that's all we want to do. We got a day off so we will go back home and rest up and try to take the next one."
Again Normal jumped on the board right away. The CornBelters loaded the bases for the second time in the first inning and the eighth time of the series. Tanner Lubach brought Santiago Chirino in on a sac fly to take an early 1-0 lead. Tony Holton drew the fourth walk of the inning to put ducks on the pond. After tying the league record of three home runs in a game, Chris Irairt stayed hot and launched a grand slam over the left field wall for the first hit of the rubber match. The no-doubter earned him the record of the first player in Frontier League history to homer in four straight at-bats. He now is tied for first in the league in home runs with 12. The grand slam was the second straight for Normal after Andrew Godbold hit one last night and was third on the season.
Tanner Lubach left the game in the first when he took a foul ball to the mask.
In the third, Iriart hit a two-out double for his sixth straight extra-base hit. The former Houston Cougar has hit six home runs with 11 RBI and has a batting line (AVG, OBP, SLG) of .417/.481/1.250 in six games against Gateway this season. Cody Erickson then knocked his first triple to put Normal up 7-3. Sam Vega walked, the Belters then recorded four straights hits to conclude a four-run third to increase the lead to 10-3. All of the runs scored tonight were with two outs.
Anthony Herrera came into play left field for Erickson in the fifth. Herrera was a two-way player for Louisiana-Monroe and he batted twice, grounding out both times for his first two career at-bats in the league.
After giving up three runs in the first, Matt Portland (3-2) settled down and was lights out to earn his third win. The lefty went six innings for the third time in a row and sixth time of the season. He limited the Grizzlies to just five hits and struck out five to add to his team-leading total of 44 in 38 innings.
David Perez made his debut in the sixth and kept Gateway scoreless. Jonathan de Marte made his second appearance in the series and didn't have his usual stuff. He left walking the bases loaded with no outs. Nick Bozman came in and bailed him out. He walked his first batter, but then got the next three Grizzlies out to maintain the 10-7 lead.
Gateway platted one run across Kuehl McEachern in the ninth. He got some help behind him as Iriart made a diving play to rob an extra base hit for out number one. McEachern picked up his fourth save on a 4-6-3 double play to take the series for Normal.
"Portland gave us a quality start. Perez came in and we liked what we saw of him. Boz (Nick Bozman) came in and cleaned up de Marte's mess, but he has been pitching great all year and I don't what to see that kid lose confidence. You're going to have a bad outing from time to time, it happens, but Boz came in and got him out of it and Kuehl came in and closed the door."
The CornBelters return for a six-game homestand starting with River City and then the Florence Freedom for Jose Canseco weekend, where he will DH in all three games for Normal.
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Frontier League Stories from June 25, 2018
- Otters' Rennie Named Frontier League Pitcher of the Week - Evansville Otters
- Mike Hill Honored as FL's Player of the Week - Washington Wild Things
- Slammers Ramping up for Big Fourth of July Celebration - Joliet Slammers
- CornBelters Hold on to Take Series at Gateway - Normal CornBelters
- Late Grizzlies Push Not Enough in Loss - Gateway Grizzlies
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