CornBelters battle back in 9th for comeback win at Windy City

Posted on June 26, 2015

By WJBC Staff

NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters captured a wild comeback while down to their final out with a 4-3 victory over the Windy City ThunderBolts on Thursday night at Standard Bank Stadium.

The ThunderBolts scored first with the game’s first base runner when Austin Gallagher one-hopped the right center field wall for a double, went to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a sacrifice fly to deep right field by Max White.

Windy City repeated the feat in the fifth inning with a lead-off double by White, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly by Ryan Deitrich for a 2-0 lead.

The Belters rallied in the seventh inning with two walks to lead off the frame that ended the night for starter Zac Wasserman. A sacrifice bunt sent Sam Judah and Aaron Dudley to second and third followed by consecutive RBI singles from Santiago Chirino and Ozney Guillen to tie the game at 2-2.

The Bolts took the lead with an unearned run in the eighth inning. With runners at first and second, a sacrifice attempt by Tyler Clark resulted in a throwing error that scored one of the runners for a 3-2 lead.

The Belters used a pair of errors with two outs in the ninth for the comeback. Santiago Chirino reached on a fielder’s choice, then scored when Guillen’s double to left center was misplayed. Guillen came home with the go-ahead run when a ground ball to shortstop by Jim Vahalik was also muffed.

Horatio Acosta (2-0) earned the win in relief while Bolts closer James Jones (0-2) suffered the loss. Race Parmenter pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his sixth save.

The Belters swept the season series over the ThunderBolts, taking all six contests.The CornBelters continue the road trip with a weekend series in Joliet beginning on Friday at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Mike Schweiss (2-4, 3.35 ERA) takes the ball for the Belters. Broadcast time on WJBC.com is 6:50.

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