CornBelters rally falls short at Florence

Posted on August 19, 2016

CornBeltersLogo630By WJBC Staff

FLORENCE, Ky. – The Normal CornBelters rallied in the ninth inning but ended the game with the bases loaded in a 4-3 loss to the Florence Freedom on Thursday night at UC Health Stadium.

The CornBelters dented the scoreboard four hitters into the game as Nolan Meadows homered just over the right field wall, also scoring Aaron Dudley after he was hit by a pitch.

The Freedom tied the contest in their opening frame with a towering home run to left by Taylor Oldham and an RBI single by Collins Cuthrell, who slugged a two-run homer to left in the fourth to give the hosts a 4-2 lead.

The Belters struck again in the eighth inning as Elvin Rodriguez led off with a walk and went to second when a double play ball was booted and third on a passed ball, then scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Dudley to cut the margin to 4-3. The Belters loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth but could not find the tying run.

Jordan Kraus (3-4) worked seven and two-thirds innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Race Parmenter (3-3) took the loss, working four and one-third innings with four earned runs on six hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Ethan Gibbons worked out of the jam in the ninth inning for his 11th save.

The Belters return to the Corn Crib Friday evening to begin a brief three-game weekend series with Frontier League-leading Southern Illinois. Game time is 6:35 p.m. with the broadcast on WJBC.com at 6:20.

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