CornBelters lose season opener

Posted on May 15, 2016
Joliet put up two big innings to take the game. (Courtesy CornBelters).
Joliet put up two big innings to take the game. (Courtesy CornBelters).

By Greg Halbleib

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters, presented by Illinois Corn Farmers, surrendered six runs in the fifth inning and lost their season opener to the Joliet Slammers 12-2 on Saturday night at the Corn Crib.
The Slammers opened the scoring with a two-run second inning with four straight baserunners, capped by a two-run single by Melvin Rodriguez. The CornBelters answered in the bottom of the frame with their first hit, run and home run of the season on one swing by Nolan Meadows, who planted the ball high on the clubhouse lawn to cut the Joliet lead to 2-1.

Joliet exploded in the fifth inning with a two-run single by Alfredo Rodriguez, an RBI double from Marc Flores and a three-run line drive homer to right center by Boo Vasquez to increase the lead to 8-1 and knock Normal starter Chris Carmain out of the game.

The Belters reached Joliet starter Kaleb Ort in the sixth inning for three straight walks to cut the deficit to 8-2 when a free pass to Elijah Trail scored Dylan Kelly, who led off the inning with a double off the left center field wall.

The Slammers picked up insurance in the ninth inning with a two-run double by Jake Gronsky and two unearned runs on a misplayed fly ball.

Ort earned the win with 5 2/3 innings, giving up only two hits and two runs with four walks and three strikeouts. Carmain took the loss with 4 1/3 innings of work with nine hits, eight runs, three walks and one strikeout.

The CornBelters host the Slammers in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday. Heartland Bank and Trust Family Fun Sunday features a Family 4-Pack of four box seats and four hot dog and drink vouchers for only $40, plus fans can meet and take pictures with Minions! Sunday’s games can be heard on WJBC.com with listen live links available on www.normalbaseball.com as well as the CornBelters Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Stay social with the CornBelters at http://twitter.com/normal_baseball, http://www.facebook.com/CornBelters and http://www.youtube.com/normalcornbelters.

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