Miners Sweep Cornbelters With 9th Inning Rally
Published on May 29, 2011 under Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
Normal - The Normal CornBelters presented by the Illinois Corn Farmers dropped the series finale Sunday night against the Southern Illinois Miners 5-3. Southern Illinois swept the home-opening series and remains in first place.
The game was decided in the 9th inning as closer Liam Ohlmann came in for his 2011 Corn Crib debut. Ohlmann walked his first batter Nate Hall on four pitches. Hall reached second base after a failed pick-off attempt from Ohlmann to first baseman Steven Alexander and tied the score 3-3 on Block's double, blowing the save opportunity for Ohlmann. The Miners then opened the flood gates as Kenji Sakaguchi singled to drive home Block and Justin Randall, giving Southern Illinois a decisive 5-3 lead.
Cory Cowsert (3-0) recorded the win with a save by Erik Draxton (3), while Liam Ohlmann (0-1) picked up the loss. The Miners improved to 7-2 with the win. The CornBelters fall below .500 with a 4-5 record.
The CornBelters started the scoring in the 2nd thanks to a Will Bullock passed ball with the bases loaded. The passed ball came during former Illinois State Redbird Gabe DeMarco's first official CornBelter at-bat, scoring Asif Shah and putting Normal up 1-0.
Southern Illinois wasted no time answering back as Sean Coughlin beat the double play attempt in the 3rd allowing Eric Suttle to score and tie the game 1-1.
DeMarco recorded his first hit with the CornBelters in the 5th inning, then Shah put the CornBelters ahead 2-1 in the 6th inning with a homerun over the right center field wall. The lead wouldn't last long as Block evened the score with a homerun of his own in the top of the 7th over the left field wall.
Normal regained the lead in the 7th inning, beginning with DeMarco reaching second on an error. Alvaro Ramirez moved the Belter catcher to third base on a sac bunt. A Frank Martinez sacrifice fly to right field scored to put the CornBelters back on top 3-2.
The CornBelters head to Lake Erie on Tuesday to take on the Crushers, following an off-day on Memorial Day.
Frontier League Stories from May 29, 2011
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