Miners Capture Rubber Game over CornBelters
Published on August 1, 2014 under Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
NORMAL, Ill. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, gave up a big fifth inning and dropped the rubber game of a series to the Southern Illinois Miners 8-4 on Friday night at the Corn Crib.
The CornBelters collected an unearned run in the second inning to start the scoring as Richard Lucas reached on an error and scored from first base on a fly ball by Pat McKenna to the left field corner that was dropped.
The Miners evened the game with a two-out rally in the fourth inning when Frank Martinez doubled to the right field corner and came home on a base hit by Aaron Gates.
The Belters regained the lead at 2-1 in their fourth frame as Aaron Dudley doubled with one out and scored on a two-out base hit to left center by Ozney Guillen.
Southern Illinois answered in the fifth with a lead-off walk to Chris Burke, who scored from first base on the next at-bat with a double to the left field corner by Steve Marino for a 2-2 tie. Matt Howard singled up the middle to plate Marino for a 3-2 lead, then went to third on a hit-and-run single by Marquis Riley and home on a base hit by Ryan Cavan to build the advantage to 4-2. Niko Vasquez flared a single to right to score Riley and a Frank Martinez ground out brought Cavan home and ended the night for Belters starter Cullen Babin with the Miners leading 6-2.
Mike Schwartz cut the deficit to 6-4 with a two-out, two-run homer to right in the CornBelters fifth inning.
The Miners got the runs back in the seventh inning in unearned fashion when pinch-hitter Jon Eisen drew a lead-off walk and scored from first on a hit to center by Cavan that was misplayed, followed by an RBI single to right center by Martinez to put the guests ahead 8-4.
Southern Illinois starter Miguel Ramirez (6-4) earned the win with a six-inning, six-hit outing. Babin (5-5) took the loss, going 4 2/3 innings with six runs on nine hits with two walks and one strikeout.
The home stand continues with a 7 p.m. Saturday contest and a 6 p.m. Sunday doubleheader with the Rockford Aviators. State Farm Saturday allows all State Farm employees, agents and policyholders to buy box seats for half price at $6 each. The games can be heard live at www.normalbaseball.com beginning 10 minutes before the scheduled first pitch.
Frontier League Stories from August 1, 2014
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- August 1 Florence Freedom Game Notes - Florence Y'alls
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