Lubach Leads Rally in the 9th to Take Series at Windy City
June 17, 2018 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
CRESTWOOD, Ill. - The (13-18) Normal CornBelters used a two-run ninth to take the rubber match against the (11-20) Windy City ThunderBolts to conclude Father's Day at Standard Bank Stadium.
"We came out, swung the bats and the threw the ball well and only had one walk tonight. As much as we hit, this ball club is only going to go as far as our pitching staff is going to take us, " said first-year Manager Billy Horn. "Jacinto (Garcia) had a great bounce-back start today. Gave us six quality innings and the bullpen came in and ran into a little bit of trouble, but de Marte (Jonathan) got of it. Bozman (Nick) came in and pitched a heck of an inning. Then Herrera (Anthony) came in and closed the door."
Tanner Lubach stared the 9th inning rally with his third hit and second double of the game. Joel Davis laid down a sac bunt to move the Belter backstop to third, but an error by the ThunderBolts pitcher scored him and let Davis get to second. Chris Iriart then moved him over on a fly out. Sam Vega kept the inning alive on a two-out single to increase the lead to 6-4. His first hit of the game came at the perfect time as it wound up being the winning RBI.
Horn turned to Anthony Herrera to close out the series win. It seemed Windy City was going to force extras after a leadoff triple then a sac fly made it a one-run game. The next batter doubled, but the sidearmer got a ground ball and fly out to shut the door on the comeback to earn his second save.
Normal took back the lead in the second after Windy City plated a run in the first. Lubach followed Andrew Godbold who leadoff with a walk and hit a ground rule double for his fourth double in two games. Both Belters were brought in to take a 2-1 lead off a double from Iriart. The two-bagger marked the tenth double in the series against Windy City.
"It's great to see Tanner (Lubach) swing the bat really well. Iriart (Chris) made an adjustment with Pascual Santiago the other day, and he is seeing the ball a lot better now, the strikeouts are down and he is hitting the ball hard and knocking in runs."
Leading the league in average (.357) entering tonight, Derrick Loveless also extended his league-leading on-base streak of 31 games with his fifth home run in the third to tie the game at 3 after the Bolts scored two runs in the second. He has only gone four games this season without knocking a hit.
"It's (on-base streak) been fantastic, he is a very, very special player. I don't think we are going to see him much longer as they are is a lot of heat on him from many organizations, but we don't really get into all of that. While he is here, it's great to see him get another opportunity for a home run tonight and get on-base and do the right things on the field. In the clubhouse, he is a great leader and great human being and it's a real pleasure to have him here, and when he goes our offense goes."
Davis helped Normal regain the lead with a double that brought around Lubach for his second run of the game from first who started the inning with an infield single. Since June 13th, Davis has collected a total of seven hits.
Coming off his worst start as a CornBelter, Jacinto Garcia aimed to bounce back and take the rubber match on Sunday evening. It seemed like his sixth career start was going to end quickly as the ThunderBotls scored three runs in two innings off the righty. However, Garcia settled down and threw four scoreless frames and only gave up one hit. It was the third time this year he lasted six innings in a start.
Jonathan de Marte replaced Mark Hendricks who started the seventh and left with runners on the corners. With one out, de Marte let up a single that brought in the tying run. He got out of the threat with a strikeout to conclude his fourteenth appearance on the season.
In the eighth, (2-0) Nick Bozman kept the Bolts scoreless and retired them in order to set up his second win of the season.
Normal returns home for a four-game series against the Southern Illinois Miners beginning on Tuesday with a doubleheader and first pitch for game one at 5:05 p.m.
• Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board...
Frontier League Stories from June 17, 2018
- Washington Falls in Finale, Still Owns Two-Game First-Place Lead - Washington Wild Things
- Lubach Leads Rally in the 9th to Take Series at Windy City - Normal CornBelters
- Miners Blast Wild Things to Take Series Finale - Southern Illinois Miners
- Florence Defeats Defending Champs on Father's Day - Florence Y'alls
- ThunderBolts Drop Second Straight to CornBelters - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Florence Scores Decision in Rubber Match - Schaumburg Boomers
- Strong Pitching and Clutch Hitting Brings Bums Win - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Otters Drop Series Finale to Beach Bums - Evansville Otters
- Renzi Deals as Crushers Win Series Against Rascals - Lake Erie Crushers
- Crushers Take Finale over Rascals - River City Rascals
- Slammers Sweep Gateway with Win on Sunday - Joliet Slammers
- Grizzlies Shut Out, Swept in Joliet - Gateway Grizzlies
- Normal Snaps Six Game Skid in Blowout of Windy City - Normal CornBelters
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.
