By Greg Halbleib
FLORENCE, Ky. – The Normal CornBelters put together just one inning of offense in an 8-3 loss to the Florence Freedom on Friday night at UC Health Stadium.
The Freedom began the scoring in the first inning with a two-out, two-run homer to right field by Andrew Godbold. The hosts added a run in the second when the first three batters reached base with Josh Henderson scoring on a single just inside the third base bag by Garrett Vail for a 3-0 advantage.
The CornBelters broke through in the third inning when R.J. Perucki and Mike Fish cracked lead-off singles with Perucki coming home on a double to right by Michael Skoller. A Santiago Chirino sacrifice fly scored Fish and Skoller came home on an infield single by Dillon Haupt to tie the contest at 3-3.
The Freedom took a 4-3 lead in their third inning when a two-out pop-up by Henderson landed in shallow left center field between three CornBelters, scoring Godbold from second base.
Florence added a pair of runs with a two-out rally in the fifth inning when a triple by Henderson to right center field scored Collins Cuthrell from first base, and Henderson tallied on a single up the middle by Isaac Wenrich for a 6-3 lead.
The hosts gained insurance in the eighth with an RBI double to the left center field gap by Travis Weaver and a run-scoring single up the middle by Daniel Fraga.
Stetson Nelson (1-3) worked six and one-third innings for the win, giving up three earned runs on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Vince Apicella (0-1) sustained the loss, lasting three and one-third innings with four earned runs, eight hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
The series continues Saturday at 5:05 p.m. Central as right-hander Mike Schweiss (2-2, 2.34 ERA) starts on the mound for the CornBelters against Freedom lefty Patrick McGrath (1-3, 7.51). Broadcast time on WJBC.com is 4:50.
