Six CornBelters Selected to All-Star Game
July 2, 2018 - Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release
NORMAL, Ill. - On Tuesday the Frontier League announced that the Normal CornBelters will have six representatives at the 2018 All-Star Game at CarShield Field on Wednesday, July 11.
"As a manager, I am floored and humbled, that we've had six guys selected to the All-Star game. I am very proud of each and everyone one of them. We could have easily had, probably 12 guys selected, but we just had our top three starters, all picked up by major league organizations who those guys would have been selected," said first-year Manager Billy Horn. "We are pleased; it's a great sign for the organization I think it makes a big statement and makes a lot of players want to come play here in Normal. We are closing out on the first half and we are right in the mix, despite losing our top three guys. I am just really excited and proud of all of them. I wish them all luck in the game and I hope they have fun. And I am really pulling for Iriart to win the home run derby and hopefully, one our guys wins the MVP. "
Normal sends the most starters ever in franchise history to the mid-summer classic this year with four. The Belters will take up the majority of the infield as Santiago Chirino, Chris Iriart, and Justin Fletcher were selected as starters for the Experienced team along with outfielder Derrick Loveless. Six players are the second most, just trailing Evansville who had seven players selected.
Chirino is selected for the third time in a row and fourth in his career. He will be a member of the Experienced team. He is having a truly memorable final season in Normal as he climbed from fourth all-time in hits to become the new hit king with 637 hits in his 500th career game. Chi Chi has started in all 42 games this season and is batting .340 for second best in the league. The Belter veteran has knocked 55 hits and has drawn 16 walks compared to 12 strikeouts. Chirino is 3-5 all-time with an RBI and a walk in All-Star games during his career.
Also entering in his final season as a CornBelter, Fletcher is selected to his first ever All-Star game. The local kid has set the tone as the Belter leadoff man this season. Fletcher is hitting .290 and has come around to score 26 times along with 38 hits. The former NIU Huskie also has kept the strikeouts down with only 12 in 131 at-bats.
Rounding out the infield starters is Iriart at first base. Recently, he tied the league record for home runs (3) in a game and went on to write his own name in the record book with homering in four straight at-bats when he hit a grand slam at Gateway. Iriart is the current league leader in home runs (17) and is tied second in RBI (37) along with slugging .600. He will also be competing in the home run derby on July 10 at 5:00 p.m.
Loveless is the final fourth starter for the experienced team that will represent Normal. During the season he had a consecutive on-base streak of 33 games and has led the league in average multiple times. Loveless is batting .316 and out of his 49 hits, he has seven doubles, three triples, and five home runs.
The final CornBelter on the experienced team is catcher Tanner Lubach. In his first season for Normal, he has a team-leading 13 doubles and is second with seven home runs. The former Angels prospect, Lubach has a .303 average and has 24 RBI while throwing out 11 baserunners and a fielding percentage of .996.
The lone man on the Rookie team will be Jack Landwehr who was also just named Frontier League Pitcher of the week for his performance against River City. In his last start, he earned his first professional victory going seven innings and striking out 12 of the 23 batters he faced. Landwehr limited the Rascals to only two hits and didn't allow any free passes. The Illinois State product has been lights out in the rotation with only walking six batters in 32 innings. Landwehr has a .253 ERA, which is the lowest among starters.
All-Star festivities include the Home Run Derby beginning at 5:00 pm on July 10th which will include former St. Louis Cardinals Jim Edmonds, Rick Ankiel, Ray Lankford and Mark Whiten as well as the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony beginning at 11:30 am on July 11th, and the 2018 Frontier League All-Star Game on July 11th at 7:00 pm which will include food trucks, inflatables, a rock climbing wall, balloon artists as well as post-game autographs.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the River City Rascals Box Office at 636-240-2287 or visiting www.rivercityrascals.com.
Frontier League Stories from July 2, 2018
- Gateway Falls to Windy City in Opener - Gateway Grizzlies
- Bolts Capture Game One in Gateway - Windy City ThunderBolts
- Four Boomers Chosen to Frontier League All-Star Game - Schaumburg Boomers
- Eight Otters Voted as Frontier League All-Stars - Evansville Otters
- Freedom Deal Zach Kirby to Normal - Florence Y'alls
- Six CornBelters Selected to All-Star Game - Normal CornBelters
- Freedom Will Send Four to Mid-Summer Classic - Florence Y'alls
- Kadkhodaian, MacNabb Named All-Stars - Gateway Grizzlies
- Romeo Cortina Named 2018 All-Star - Southern Illinois Miners
- Five Rascals Named to All-Star Game - River City Rascals
- Five Wild Things Named 2018 Frontier League All Stars - Washington Wild Things
- Five Beach Bums Selected for 2018 All Star Game - Traverse City Beach Bums
- Landwehr Named League Pitcher of the Week - Normal CornBelters
- Freedom Belts Normal in Series Finale - Florence Y'alls
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