CornBelters Tie in 9th, Rally in 11th to Beat Rascals
Published on May 16, 2015 under Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
NORMAL, Ill. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, tied the River City Rascals in the ninth inning, scored four runs in the second extra inning and held off a rally in the bottom of that frame for a 5-4 win in 11 innings on Saturday night at T.R. Hughes Ballpark.
The Rascals opened the scoring with a fourth-inning rally, taking a 1-0 lead with a Zach Kometani double to the right field wall.
The CornBelters tied the game with one out in the ninth inning when Sam Judah raced home from first base on an Aaron Dudley double to the right field wall and slid just under the tag at the plate.
Judah came through for the Belters in the 11th inning when he smacked a two-run double, then scored when Jason Merjano used his first Normal at-bat to trade places with Judah with an RBI double to left center for a 5-1 lead.
The Rascals countered by taking advantage of wildness from Normal reliever Eric Anderson in their 11th inning, using a balk, four walks and a single to score three times, but Anderson wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam by forcing a fly out to deep left center to end the game.
Kevin Jefferis pitched the ninth and tenth innings for his first win while Derek Cape failed to record an out in the 11th for the loss.
The series concludes with a 4:05 p.m. first pitch in suburban St. Louis. Returning right-hander Mike Schweiss takes the ball for the CornBelters while righty Joe Scanio starts for the Rascals. Pre-game on 95.9 WEZC, WJBC.com and www.normalbaseball.com begins at 3:50. The CornBelters will play their first home game on Tuesday, May 19 at 6:35 p.m. versus the Gateway Grizzlies ("CEFCU Opening Night").
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