Miners Explode in Series Opener over CornBelters
July 30, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
NORMAL, Ill. - The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, fell in a rare offensive night, 20-11 at the Corn Crib on Wednesday to the Southern Illinois Miners that featured a cycle by the visitors and the most runs ever given up by the hosts.
The Miners opened the scoring in the first inning with two walks, an RBI double from Frank Martinez, a run-scoring single by Aaron Gates and an RBI triple by Chris Burke for a quick 3-0 lead.
Southern Illinois continued to rough up Belters starter Kurt Schluter with five more runs in the third inning on RBIs from Burke, Steve Marino, Matt Howard and Marquis Riley, chasing the Normal pitcher from the game with two outs in the frame with an 8-0 Miners lead.
The CornBelters put up a crooked number in their third inning with two walks and three hits with Sam Judah recording two RBIs with Jhiomar Veras registering another to cut the deficit to 8-3 heading to the fourth.
The Miners rapped out four more hits in the fourth inning to score twice more on a sacrifice fly by Burke and a base hit by Marino to build their lead to 10-3.
A two-out rally in the fourth inning for the Belters cut their deficit to 10-4 as Ozney Guillen singled and went to third on a Tyler Shover base hit, then scored on a wild pitch.
Southern Illinois got the run back with a lead-off homer to left field in the sixth inning by Chris Burke to build the advantage to 11-4. An RBI single up the middle by Matt Jones later in the frame extended the lead to 12-4. The guests added two more tallies in the seventh on a double from Burke, completing his cycle, and a passed ball for a 14-4 score.
The Belters returned to the scoreboard in the seventh inning by drawing two lead-off walks and scoring a run on an Aaron Dudley double and a ground out by Richard Lucas to cut the margin to 14-6.
The Miners extended their lead to 16-6 on a two-run homer high onto the left field lawn by Jones in the eighth. Later in the inning, Burke sent a grand slam to tie a Frontier League record of nine RBIs in one game, accomplished by three others but not since 2008.
Veras completed the scoring with a three-run two-out homer in the ninth. The 20 runs is the most ever surrended in a single game by the CornBelters.
Miners starter Steve Hagen (1-1) earned the win while Schluter (0-2) took the loss.
The series continues Thursday night as the Belters give the ball to right-hander Mike Devine (0-1, 6.41 ERA) while the Miners counter with lefty ace Rick Teasley (7-1, 3.19). First pitch is 7 p.m. with pre-game at 6:50 on www.normalbaseball.com . The home stand continues through Sunday.
THE NIBLET : Mini-Plan Packages for the 2014 season are currently on sale! To purchase Mini-Plan Package 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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