McKenna's Walk-Off Gives Belters 4-3 Win
Published on August 2, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
Rockford Aviators News Release
NORMAL, IL - Pat McKenna was responsible for helping the Normal Cornbelters tie the game up in the bottom of the eighth inning, but sealed the deal with a walk-off, solo home run in the bottom of the tenth as the Rockford Aviators, presented by Pearson, fell 4-3.
The Aviators defense was excellent tonight behind a rough start for Josh Slaats. Slaats pitched five innings and allowed just one run on five hits, but he walked seven batters and Kyle Dhanani and Tanner Witt combined for four double-plays to help get Slaats out of several jams.
The Aviators got on the board early as the Cornbelters' starter, Bobby Shore also had a rough start allowing three runs on six hits.
In the top of the first inning, Kenny Bryant had a RBI single that scored Dhanani from third and Brian Bistagne had a RBI sacrifice fly that scored Dusty Robinson to give the Aviators a 2-0 lead.
Mason Morioka led off the second inning with a double and was driven home when Ozney Guillen dropped an easy fly ball to center field from Dhanani to give the Aviators a 3-0 lead through two.
It wasn't until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Cornbelters got their first run on the board.
Slaats hit Aaron Dudley to lead off the inning and he advanced to second base on a wild pitch from Slaats. Two batters later, Tyler Shover drove in Dudley with a RBI single to cut the lead down to 3-1.
Michael Schaub entered the game in the bottom of the sixth inning and pitched two scoreless innings of relief, retiring all six batters he faced and striking out the side in the sixth inning.
However, in the bottom of the eighth inning, McKenna cranked a two-out RBI-double that scored Richard Lucas from second and then Guillen singled in the very next at-bat to score McKenna to tie the game at three.
Both teams went scoreless through the ninth inning, but with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, Eric Cendejas retired the first two batters before giving up a solo shot to McKenna that gave the Cornbelters a 4-3 win in walk-off fashion.
The Aviators will have a chance at revenge tomorrow night as they will play a double-header to wrap up the three-game series. The first game of the double-header will begin at 6:00 p.m. and the second game will follow approximately thirty minutes after the first game ends.
Fans can listen to the broadcast on the Meridix Network and the link to the broadcast can be found at www.rockfordaviators.com.
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