CornBelters Walk off in Home Finale
August 28, 2017 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
CornBelters walk off in home finale
Regular season ends on road at Evansville and Florence
NORMAL, Ill. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, captured their fourth straight win in a back-and-forth affair with a 5-4 walk-off victory over the River City Rascals in Sunday's home finale at the Corn Crib.
The Rascals opened the scoring in the second inning on a two-run homer just over the right field fence by Jason Merjano.
The CornBelters gained a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, also scoring with the long ball as Ty Morris smashed a three-run drive to the right field hill.
River City knotted the contest at 3-3 in the seventh inning on a two-out solo monster home run to the top of the right field hill by Paul Kronenfeld.
The Belters gained a 4-3 advantage in the seventh inning when a wild pitch from reliever Storm Rynard scored Santiago Chirino from third base.
The Rascals countered in the top of the eighth inning as Kevin Suarez nearly homered to lead off, but the ball was deflected at the fence off Yeixon Ruiz' glove and back into play to keep Suarez at second base. He scored with two outs on a Josh Ludy line single up the middle to tie the contest at 4-4.
The CornBelters started their eighth inning with a triple over the head of the center fielder by Brian Hakes. Rascals catcher Mike Jurgella was injured during the next at-bat, resulting in a delay of approximately 15 minutes while rain began to fall, and umpires suspended play for just over two hours. Rascals reliever Cody Mincey took care of the Belters upon resumption of play, striking out the side and leaving Hakes 90 feet away from the go-ahead run.
The Belters finished things in the ninth, however, as Santiago Chirino led off with a triple to the right field corner, but was cut down at the plate on a ground ball to third base. Two walks, one intentional, loaded the bases, and Craig Lepre sliced a single through the right side for the game-winner with one out.
Chad Gendron (3-1) worked the ninth inning for the victory while Mincey (1-2) sustained the loss. Normal starter Edgar De La Rosa worked seven innings of four-hit ball with seven strikeouts and no walks but did not receive a decision.
The CornBelters take Monday off before a six-game road trip to end the regular season. The Belters visit Evansville on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings followed by a three-game series in suburban Cincinnati at Florence on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon.
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 28, 2017
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