Miners Again Explode Early to Complete Sweep of CornBelters
August 31, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
MARION, Ill. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, gave up two big early innings as the Southern Illinois Miners completed a sweep of the CornBelters, 12-4 on Sunday at Rent One Park.
The Miners took a first-inning lead by batting eight and scoring four with two doubles, a single and two walks, with RBIs from a Frank Martinez single, a two-run double from Chris Burke and a ground out by Marquis Riley. The hosts continued the barrage in the next frame with a two-run double by Ryan Cavan and a two-run homer over the right field bullpen by Martinez for an 8-0 and the end of the night for Normal starter Bobby Shore with one out in the second inning.
The CornBelters bullpen then kept the Miners off the board until the sixth inning, when Mike Schweiss took the mound and issued two walks to lead off that both scored on a Niko Vasquez double and a Martinez single for his fourth RBI of the game and a 10-0 lead.
The Belters finally broke onto the scoreboard with a two-out solo home run by Pat McKenna in the seventh inning. The Miners answered with a pair of runs in the seventh inning, one of which was unearned. Normal used sacrifice flies from Jhiomar Veras and Dylan Kelly and another homer by McKenna in the ninth inning for the final score.
Miners starter Michael Carden (6-4) earned the win with seven innings of five-hit ball with two walks and six strikeouts. Shore (4-7) took the loss.
The Belters take Monday off and conclude the season with games at Schaumburg on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday at 1 p.m. and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The games can be heard live at www.normalbaseball.com beginning 10 minutes before the scheduled first pitch.
Belters earn post-season honors : The CornBelters placed a league-leading three players on the Frontier League Post-Season All-Star Team, outfielders Mike Schwartz and Sam Judah and catcher Tyler Shover. Evansville third baseman Shayne Houck received the Morgan Burkhart Award as Most Valuable Player, Southern Illinois lefty Matt Bywater was named the Brian Tollberg Award winner as Most Valuable Pitcher, Tanner Witt of Rockford was given the Jason Simontacchi Award as Most Valuable Rookie and Andy McCauley of Evansville was named Most Valuable Manager with the Roger Hanners Award. Coaching staffs, general managers, broadcasters and media voted on the awards with final results announced before Sunday's games.
THE NIBLET : Season ticket packages for the 2015 season are currently on sale! To purchase tickets, or for more information, please contact the CornBelters today at (309) 454-2255 (BALL) or stop by The Mid-Illini Credit Union Box Office at The Corn Crib during normal business hours.
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