Grizzlies pull away from CornBelters

Posted on July 27, 2015

By Greg Halbleib

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters dropped the finale of their home stand with a 5-2 defeat to the Gateway Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon at the Corn Crib.

The Grizzlies got on the board in the second inning when Blake Brown led off with a double and scored on a base hit by Richard Seigel.

The CornBelters knotted the game at 1-1 when Richard Lucas led off with a single, went to second on a fielder’s choice and third on a wild pitch, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Sam Judah on a line out to right field.

Gateway took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Seth Heck was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, then was sacrificed to second and scored on a double to the center field fence by Ben Waldrip.

The guests added to the lead in the seventh when the first two hitters reached on a walk and single to end the afternoon for Belters starter Kevin Johnson (4-3). The runners were sacrificed to second and third and scored on a flare single over the right side of the infield by Heck.

The Belters cut the deficit to 4-2 in the eighth inning as Aaron Dudley doubled with one out and scored from second base on an error on a ground ball hit by Judah.

Grant Buckner knocked a solo homer to left with one out in the ninth inning for the final score.

Trevor Richards (3-4) worked seven innings for the win while Tyler Thompson recorded the final four outs for his fourth save.

The CornBelters take Monday off before departing on a nine-game road trip, beginning with a 6:05 p.m. Central contest on Tuesday at Traverse City. Pregame on WJBC.com is at 5:50.

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